Amazon: Where to put positive wire from electronic ignition?

[JDW3696]

Hello.
Fitting an accuspark electronic ignition kit on my Amazon and it's obvious where the black negative wire goes on the coil but there isn't a positive terminal for the positive wire. It needs to go on a 12v feed that goes on and off with the ignition. Does anyone have any experience or ideas? Thanks
Joe

[JP 1800]

The earlier Amazons B18 varient have an armoured cable for the coil positive (an anti theft device), to overcome this you have two options.

1: cut open the armoured cable to expose the ignition positive

2: Route a positive feed from the car(fusebox) how ever you will also need a second feed from the starter solenoid as the feed from the fusebox will be cut during cranking ,if memory serves me.

[JDW3696]

Ahh okay. Thankyou. I will have to get that done somewhere then. Was hoping it was going to be straightforward.
Thanks
Joe

[142 Guy]

You need a 'diode wire kit' to provide +12v power to the pertronix module. You can fabricate your own with some wire wire, a couple of 1n4001 diodes and a couple of crimp connectors for about 0.5 $. Or you can purchase an official kit for about $10 US$ plus shipping.

Details here
https://www.ipdusa.com/Media/6063/Do...20IGNITION.pdf

[Ron Kwas]

Neil; A diode cable is only necessary when using the OE Ign Sw in Pos 4 to Start the engine, and owners of (544, 122, 1800) with these susceptible Ign Sws have learned either by their own experience when they twist off a key(s) or common experience if they read any of the fora out there, that this strategy has been shown to be less than sustainable in the long term. I have written about the root cause here: https://www.sw-em.com/ignition_switc...ch_article.htm

Joe; So if a Start Sw is the best preventative of broken Ign Keys, a side-effect of installing one is that a diode cable is no longer needed, and I have this documented here: https://www.sw-em.com/123Ignition_in...ored_Cable.htm

...not to mention that when (cheap) solid state diodes used in these cables fail, they result very difficult starting, if at all!: https://www.sw-em.com/Volvo%20Igniti...de_ORing_Cable

Cheers

[Othen]

Originally Posted by JP 1800

The earlier Amazons B18 varient have an armoured cable for the coil positive (an anti theft device), to overcome this you have two options.

1: cut open the armoured cable to expose the ignition positive

2: Route a positive feed from the car(fusebox) how ever you will also need a second feed from the starter solenoid as the feed from the fusebox will be cut during cranking ,if memory serves me.

Originally Posted by Ron Kwas

Neil; A diode cable is only necessary when using the OE Ign Sw in Pos 4 to Start the engine, and owners of (544, 122, 1800) with these susceptible Ign Sws have learned either by their own experience when they twist off a key(s) or common experience if they read any of the fora out there, that this strategy has been shown to be less than sustainable in the long term. I have written about the root cause here: https://www.sw-em.com/ignition_switc...ch_article.htm

Joe; So if a Start Sw is the best preventative of broken Ign Keys, a side-effect of installing one is that a diode cable is no longer needed, and I have this documented here: https://www.sw-em.com/123Ignition_in...ored_Cable.htm

...not to mention that when (cheap) solid state diodes used in these cables fail, they result very difficult starting, if at all!: https://www.sw-em.com/Volvo%20Igniti...de_ORing_Cable

Cheers

Good points both,

I don't know whether the OP is still using the original ignition switch with the armoured cable or not, but if I recall he is having some general electrical problems so it may be sensible to fit a separate momentary start switch:



... such that the motor starts and runs in postilion III and the gorilla spring is not needed. An advantage is (as Ron correctly says) the +ve supply for the OP's electronic ignition module may be taken from pole III of the switch (or the input of the momentary switch) rather than have to hack into the armoured cable:



Which would be a pity.

On my 1063 122s I found that even after fitting a momentary switch, the original ignition switch (in position III) would still sometimes not provide enough instantaneous current to energise the starter solenoid. The simple solution was to fit a starter relay, thus reducing the current draw on my 60 year old switch to well under an amp at start up:

[JDW3696]

Sounds like it would be an idea to get this looked at by an auto electrician and get a starter button fitted first.
I'm having the car put on the rolling road on Friday so was hoping to get the electronic ignition fitted prior to that but that won't happen. I'm guessing it will need to go back to be set up again once I have electronic ignition fitted?
Interesting cars these Volvos.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by JDW3696

Sounds like it would be an idea to get this looked at by an auto electrician and get a starter button fitted first.
I'm having the car put on the rolling road on Friday so was hoping to get the electronic ignition fitted prior to that but that won't happen. I'm guessing it will need to go back to be set up again once I have electronic ignition fitted?
Interesting cars these Volvos.

It is up to you how you spend your money of course, but I’d say it would be a waste to tune the motor car on a rolling road and then change the ignition to electronic points. I’d say either postpone the rolling road or get the electronic points fitted in the next two days.

Do you understand the issue about the +ve supply for the electronic points from the ignition switch? It is about the load shedding between positions 3 and 4 - read Ron’s very good white paper for the details.

You have 3 options to fit the points:

a. Cut into the armoured cable and tap into the +ve ignition wire. This is simplest but scruffiest.

b. Fit the simple diode arrangement someone (142 Guy) referred to above. This is quite elegant and would cost a couple of quid. Unfortunately one would need a really basic knowledge of electronics, and so probably I isn’t practical at this juncture.

c. Run the starter system from position 3 of the switch and fit a momentary switch in series. This eliminates the load shedding of position 4 so you can just connect the +ve supply for the electronic ignition to the supply side of the momentary switch. This is the most robust solution in the longer term, but isn’t quite as elegant as ‘b’. I think Ron’s white paper has a section on this and he even sells a little kit (I bought one). If you wanted to do the modification this week you wouldn’t have time to wait for the mail from the USA, but you could get the parts you need (a momentary switch, a foot of wire and a couple of crimp connectors) for perhaps a tenner at any electrical supplies store.

If it was me I’d take option ‘c’, buy a momentary switch somewhere local today and have it plus the electronic points fitted by lunchtime . If you still wanted to you could get your motor car tuned on Friday.

[142 Guy]

Originally Posted by JDW3696

Sounds like it would be an idea to get this looked at by an auto electrician and get a starter button fitted first.
I'm having the car put on the rolling road on Friday so was hoping to get the electronic ignition fitted prior to that but that won't happen. I'm guessing it will need to go back to be set up again once I have electronic ignition fitted?
Interesting cars these Volvos.

Does the trip to the rolling road include optimization of the engine tune (ignition timing and fuel mixture setting)? If it does, then you should postpone the rolling road test until after the Pertronix is installed. As I recall, when you install the Pertronix module you have to shift the base ignition timing and then recheck the timing with a timing light (best method). That means that you potentially mess up the ignition set up that was done while the car was on the chassis dyno. If the dyno trip does not include optimization of the ignition timing and you are just running with the factory specs for timing, then it really does not matter whether the Pertronix installation occurs before or after the dyno trip.

[JDW3696]

Okay. Thankyou for that. I will speak to the person doing the rolling road and go from there. Might have to stick to traditional points set up for now and go back to this at a later date.
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks
Joe