CRANE XR700 ignition problem

[patmccusker]

I recently installed an XR 700-231 and crane coil, in my '63 220b but havent got it running yet. I followed the instructions for the basic installation but when I turned on the ignition key I had smoke comming out of the balast resistor. The way my ignition was before, the wire from the resistor went to the posative coil terminal and there was also a wire from a capacitor with a ground strap connected to the posative coil terminal, with the ground strap connected to the engine block. The instructions didn't say anything about that so I left them off. Now I am investigating what to do while my car sits. I dont want to take any chances and burn up the xr 700. Any body got any Ideas what I did wrong? Does this mean I have a posative ground? Thanks, Pat.

[patmccusker]

Attached is a pic of the way it was wired originally with the capacitor and balast resistor attached to pos. the capacitor had a ground strap to engine block. the neg. terminal went to points.

[Arthur Dalton]

The Ballast gets hot . It is a voltage dropping resistor. If the car has sat for a time or the resistor has any dirt/oil on it , it will smoke for a few secs .
The wire from the ballast goes to the coil +.
The Crane module wiring is : Red to coil +, Blk to chassis ground, and yellow to coil - .
The other leads go to dist. led /sensor. Make sure these leads colors are the same on each side of the connector.
Forget the condensor.
Which Crane coil did you use ?????????
The stock coil is fine for XR-700.

[patmccusker]

Hi Again. Thank you for your input. The Coil is a Crane PS 20 and I also got a new balast resistor. The smoke was the very first time I turned the key.Maybe my trouble is not knowing what wires go into the balast resistor. I set it up using the same wire into the new resistor that went into the old resistor without really knowing where it came from.
The Crane Instruction shows 12V Battery wire into resistor and a wire from the start position of ignition key comming in between the resistor and coil. am I looking at that correctly? would that give you constant hot to the coil or is that 12v battery wire supposed to run thru the ignition switch too. Thanks again, Pat.

[Arthur Dalton]

The wire that went TO the old ballast is from the ignition switch.
Simply put this on the new ballast. Now, a wire goes from the other end of ballast to the coil +, along with the Crane unit's Red wire. [ they both go to the pos. terminal at the coil.]
The yellow from the Crane on the neg coil terminal, and the blk to a good chassis ground.
Thats it..

The reason for the ballast smoke is cuz it is new.. it will burn off and should be fine..
I find the original coil and ballast are fine with the Crane conversion..
As a matter of fact . I have done some scope comparisions and found the original Bosch to be better.

[patmccusker]

That is exactly how I had it and the smoke scared me. Ididn't realize a new one would smoke so I will leave it as is and try it again. Do you think I should put the old resistor back on?

[Arthur Dalton]

If that one came with the Crane coil , it should be OK for their unit.
It is most likely very close in ohms to the original anyway...

[mzsmbs]

my new resistor didn't smoke. smoke is a bad signal. i don't like it either.. it shouldn't smoke man....

[patmccusker]

Thanks for the advice, I am going to put the old resistor back on this weekend and see what happens. I believe it is wired right and I think I should be able to get it going. Thanks again, Pat,