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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Wipac 3 Pole Ignition Module

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I purchased this Ignition Module direct from Wipac some 5 years ago as a replacement for the original. It has previously worked OK and had very little use and been kept in dry storage and, as the photos show, it is in good condition with no separation of the black sealed portion from the metal part which I believe can occur. However it produces NO spark from the NGK B6 spark plug fitted to my Suffolk Punch 35s. Detaching the HT lead from suppressor & plug and holding away from cylinder head also gives no result. These units are said to "degrade" although apart from above separation I do not understand exactly what is meant by this as there is little else which apparently can deteriorate to cause failure. Does any member have any info. on this?

I am not that great with electrics but have a multimeter. Does anyone know any simple tests i.e. continuity, which can be performed on these units to locate the fault area or yield more info. as to what the problem is........ and how would I perform any such test? 

Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

Forums

wristpin Tue, 16/08/2016

The giveaway is separation is between the hard plastic case and the potting material that encapsulates the electronic components. Separation in that area usually results in a dead unit or one that fails after a  short period of running .

 

 

goodgrass Fri, 26/08/2016

Spark plug lead to ground is 3.5k to 5k

Purple contact breaker lead to ground about 1.4R

wristpin Fri, 26/08/2016

Purple contact breaker lead to ground about 1.4R

 My understanding of the original post is that it is an electronic ignition module - no contact breaker?

wristpin Sun, 28/08/2016

Certainly that would be the case on a points ignition magneto as per your link but the point that I was tying to make is that I believe the original post concerns an electronic ignition system, no condenser and no contact breaker. In that case the wire that is not the HT lead will be a kill wire to stop the engine .As far as I know Wipac did not publish resistance values for the electronic coils.

Going back to the original question it was our experience that failure or erratic behavior  of the Wipac electronic units was more often than not accompanied by the separation of the outer case from the potting material that surrounds the coil and electronic components.

 

goodgrass Sun, 28/08/2016

I understand what you say I missed that point.

When you say separation, do you mean a small crack in the compound or that the whole thing starts to fall apart?

wristpin Sun, 28/08/2016

The hard outer case starts to spring away from the potting material - just a little, but presumably lets moisture in. We've tried drying them out in the airing cupboard and sealing the gap with mastic but no permanent cure.

goodgrass Sun, 28/08/2016

So once a crack appears in the potting compound, permanent damage occurs through water vapor ingress causing high voltage shorts and therefore it should be considered unreliable?

I have two units which I'm not sure of both exhibit slight cracks at the curved edge of the housing, but both  have continuity -  should i avoid attempting to using them?

 

wristpin Mon, 29/08/2016

I can only repeat that experience suggests that once the casing starts to separate from the encapsulated coil and electronic components the unit is likely to fail or become unreliable.

The test is to fit it and try it.