105 Throttle/Governor Setup

[steved]

Alligator clip to negative battery terminal. Touching probe end to screw head on the wire going to the points.

[dvogtvpe]

I haven't read Jon's tech article but I'm thinking when he does it he hooks it to the clip to the pos and touchs the wire to the points. that way you don't need the key and you won't burn the points if you forget to turn it off

[Alvy]

He hooks clamp of test light to negative battery terminal and touches negative side of coil/points wire.

Steve, not sure how you have the opposite result? You're saying when the points open your light goes out? Do you have everything wired correctly? Positive potential flows through the coil when points are open, from pos side to neg side, this happens because there is no ground from the points being closed. Your test light becomes the ground path which makes the light come on.

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by dvogtvpe

I haven't read Jon's tech article but I'm thinking when he does it he hooks it to the clip to the pos and touchs the wire to the points. that way you don't need the key and you won't burn the points if you forget to turn it off

Originally Posted by Alvy

He hooks clamp of test light to negative battery terminal and touches negative side of coil/points wire.

Steve, not sure how you have the opposite result? You're saying when the points open your light goes out? Do you have everything wired correctly? Positive potential flows through the coil when points are open, from pos side to neg side, this happens because there is no ground from the points being closed. Your test light becomes the ground path which makes the light come on.

Both ways is correct. For the record, the article says to turn the key on. Don't know why I wrote it that way.... the other way makes more sense. (Like dvogtvpe said)

Alvy is correct. You may need to file your points. Not uncommon for new points to need filed. Run a point file through them. If you don't have one, a fingernail file works good. If you don't have one of those, sandpaper (like 400 grit) folded in half so that it's rough on both sides works too. Run a dollar bill through the points after your done. That will clean them. Then check it again.

Sorry, I missed your call again. Been busy farming.

[steved]

I'm at work now so I can't file the points and check again. I wanted to throw a couple of things out to you before I get back in the shop. I'm wondering if my uncle from 20 years ago had done any rewiring. This is my first time doing anything with the electrical. Going from bat. neg. to the wire on the points the test light works like I described above with the key on or off. No difference. I will verify this later and run the test from the bat. positive to the points and see what happens. I also have not put in the new condenser. I will do that also. Is there anything else I can check to give you more insight into this situation? Is there possibly another path to ground that would cause the test light to go out when the points open? Thanks again.

[dvogtvpe]

that sounds like your battery cables are hooked up backwards, it is a negative ground system

[steved]

Uh-oh. What does that mean as far as the operation of the cub and working on it? What would I check to see if it has been switched to a negative system? Can it be switched back easily?

[dvogtvpe]

its supposed to be negative ground. look at where your positive + cable goes to. if it goes to the frame its backwards

[steved]

Thanks, I'll check it out at lunch. Have you heard of this happening before?

[J-Mech]

Yes, it just means the battery was installed backwards. No one "switched" anything. They goofed. Might have to re-polarize the regulator.... other wise it should be fine.