Soldering & the Ballast Resistor BlueHooHoo's

[wally426ci]

You may remember my question about finding a 12volt source for my new electric choke. Well, all were right in the dark blue wire. Now, ive spent years using 'butt connectors" when connecting wires on cars. This time i decided to do what i thought was "the right thing" and use a soldering gun.

Well, after connecting everything, guess who's car runs like a total POS!  So, is it possible that the solder is actually hampering electrical current? I just did it, so i havent experimenting yet to solve this. Any ideas? Oh, and the choke wasnt staying closed for all that long so i sont think it was b/c the choke was stuck or anything. Im almost certain its electrical.

 

[Devil]

Did you use the right kind of solder?

What kind did you use?

Ryan

[Moparal]

Or maybe wrong blue wire and it's messing with your system

[Chryco Psycho]

I canno0t see solder causing rsistance or  a problem with the way the car runs check everything around where you were working to make sure nothing got disconnected or adjsuted

[wally426ci]

Well, it was the only wire that was reading voltage... I was getting a little over 11 Volts from the Dark Blue.

Heres my hook up: i have Dark Blue, Next to Light blue with yellow stripe and a jumper @ the Ballast resistor.

Then i have the 2 wires together on the other side and the single wire next to that.

I will say that, when i connected the new wire, i took everything off and re-did all connections to the ballast resistor. I just dont get it...... 

And i just used the solder that came with the gun from Home Depot, it says its for electrical....

[422STROKER]

Got a pic Wally?

11V's seems low to me.  Maybe you need to do some cleaning at the bulkhead connector.

Tom

[Bullitt-]

Are you able to remove the choke from the circuit to see if things will go back to normal ?
.
If disconnecting the choke has no effect I'm gonna guess that just messing with the ballast resistor could have caused to to become erratic, they do break down with age & just maybe this pushed it over the edge.

[longgone]

Most modern solder has very good electrical qualities (low resistance).  A cold or poor solder joint can cause intermittent contact but not introduce voltage drop or current loss (both a function of resistance).
I'd chase other things than the solder if you show a good continuity test with a DMM or test light.

Blueglow (old school Electrical Engineer EE)

[wally426ci]

It is possible that the ballast resistor went. i took it off and swapped it around so the opening was up top, and i noticed it was a little cracked and there was reminence of some melting on the firewall, but that could have been from an old one. or not. 

Im using a 4 pronger, i went through a big mess switching to a 2 pronger once. the car wouldnt run so i switched back.


Wally Peters (Amatuer Electrical Idiot)

 

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Are you able to remove the choke from the circuit to see if things will go back to normal ?
.
If disconnecting the choke has no effect I'm gonna guess that just messing with the ballast resistor could have caused to to become erratic, they do break down with age & just maybe this pushed it over the edge.

Wade,

  Disconnecting the power to the choke will make it stay closed. It was a nice thought though.




   Mike

[wally426ci]

Well, it wasnt the ballast resistor......  tomorrow, the wires are coming back apart. 

[ChallengerHK]

I have written not one but three electrical/electronics courses ... and I still don't know very much about the topic    I hope you get it right.

[wally426ci]

hey is there a cleaner chemical out there i can get rid of electrical corrosion with, like to take place of wire brushing??? its hard to get in to tight spaces.

[422STROKER]

You could try Contact cleaner or Electronics cleaner, but I'm not sure if it is compatible with paint.  Be careful.

Tom

I have seen both of these at home Depot in the Electrical dept.

[Chryco Psycho]

exactly where did you cut into the Dk Blue wire  ?