New magnetos

GoldenMotor.com
Sep 4, 2012
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America's Hi-five
I've heard a few people mention some of the new kits don't have the white wire anymore. Wondering if anyone can clarify if the wire itself is just not soldered on or if the whole coil has been eliminated from the magneto?
 

2door

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Sep 15, 2008
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Good question. I have one of the newer (no white wire) mags and compared to the older one the coil is essentially the same physical size. You'd think they would be smaller or maybe the factories are adding more windings to the blue wire circuit. I've never put an ohm meter on the two to compare. Maybe that would answer the question.

I'm not going to open up this mag to look and ruin a good mag but if anyone has, we'd like to know.

Tom
 

Davezilla

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Mar 15, 2014
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I got one like that off ebay and it works really well, the wires are a little thicker and heavier gauge and it ohms out at around 380 ohms. I was a little concearned about it not being able to make a strong spark since the other ones I have measure out around 560 ohms but it fires just fine. I'm thinking with the heavier wire, even tho it has a few less windings it can still fire plenty strong enough but run cooler which will let it survive better. I still wouldn't let it get wet and would recommend sealing it off really good in case ya ever get caught in the rain etc, but it is built well and fires the plug plenty strong enough even with high compression.
 
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
I got one like that off ebay and it works really well, the wires are a little thicker and heavier gauge and it ohms out at around 380 ohms. I was a little concearned about it not being able to make a strong spark since the other ones I have measure out around 560 ohms but it fires just fine. I'm thinking with the heavier wire, even tho it has a few less windings it can still fire plenty strong enough but run cooler which will let it survive better. I still wouldn't let it get wet and would recommend sealing it off really good in case ya ever get caught in the rain etc, but it is built well and fires the plug plenty strong enough even with high compression.
Well, it's always good news if it potentially makes a better spark, even at the cost of a wire a handful of guys are using. Do you guys happen to know if the whole tab that the white wire was on is gone or if the wire was just not soldered to it? I'm not in the game of coil winding, so if the tab isn't there its already beyond what its worth to me. It's not a good feeling that my setup may become extinct.

Thanks for the info so far.
 

Davezilla

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Mar 15, 2014
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From what I've seen the white wire for teh 6 volt output is a separate winding and independant of the blue wire windings, but that doesn't mean another one that looks just like it has the white wire tapped from the blue wire windings. I'm pretty sure most of them use 2 separate windings, but it's also common practice to run a single winding and tapping off that wire at different points for multiple voltage outputs...

Now the 2 wire mag coil I got does look like there's a little less windings on the spool which leads me to think these are made with just a single winding without the option to tap into it for a separate low volt output.

This one does fire the plug quite well but I'd still like to compare the primary output voltage going to the CDI unit to see if the 3 wire puts out more voltage than the 2 wire. I've heard the 3 wire puts out around 90 volts into the cdi but hadn't measured to confirm this, this voltage reading would have to be taken with the engine running at a certain rpm, then swap out the coils and run it with the other coil at the same rpm to be able to compare output voltages.
 
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
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America's Hi-five
I'm not sure if I'll be able to or not, or what it can really tell me but how do I find out WHAT failed on the magneto and WHY. I'm curious to see what did it.

So, obviously the magneto is not all that great and tends to be the most common fail. It's cheap, and quick to replace so no big deal. BUT is there a better magneto? I see better cdi for sale but no better magneto? Seems like it would be popular.