145° Mesa St. Redding, California 96001
Entirely by accident I hit upon a very simple (if you have the
tester) method of rejuvenating weak high tension (voltage) magneto
output. I have a voltage continuity tester.
About 50 years ago a radio friend drew a diagram and suggested
used radio parts for a condenser (now called capacitor) and
continuity tester for automotive use. I have used it all these
years and it is powerful enough to trace out a path of shorted
contacts in the underside of a distributor cap!
It is not impossible to get the parts today but will take some
scrounging as they have been outdated by solid state
(transistor/diode stuff)- Here it is, with diagram.
I used one half of a 750 volt radio power transformer (that was
the common type in use then), the reason being that a full 750
volts might melt out a condenser and half voltage will do the job
fine-about 350 volts or so. Next comes a # 80 power tube (Radio
Shack can supply the oldies). Next a 1 Micro-Farad Condenser which
I am told is no longer available so use a good capacitor from a
small electric motor-the run up to 200-300 MFD’S. Since you
will need a ham radio friend on this he will explain all about
these things-I don’t know that much.
Next is a NEON 110 volt test light-they screw into a regular 110
volt socket. Use about a 50,000 ohm resistor with it. A base for
your # 80 tube, 1 toggle switch, some phone jacks and test prods,
another toggle switch for your neon light and that’s it. I
added a pilot light for fun but not essential.
If you get careless and touch the test prods it won’t kill
you, otherwise I’d have been dead long ago, but you won’t
make that mistake again for a long time.
My friends says they use this method to rejuvenate used TV
tubes. It seems to clear out the ‘junk’in the connections.
I recently ‘zapped’ 2 Bosch AB 33 armatures. Both were
dead-no continuity. One ‘broke through’ and established
continuity but the other wouldn’t come to life.
To use on any point operated system just open the points or put
a piece of paper between them and touch the 2 halves of the points
with the prods and watch the spark output on the high tension lead.
Two or three times is enough.
Condensers last for years but many times it’s nice to be
able to test them out for short or leakage. They will accept one
flash from your test prods and hold the charge for several seconds
before accepting another one. The neon light will burn steady if
the condenser is shorted-if good it will vary from one glow to a
weak flicker. Each time you test it discharge it by touching the
wire to the case. It is not necessary to remove the condenser from
the unit to test it-jus remove the wire and let it dangle. Have
fun!
