General Tech Electrical question

[Simmo]

Does anybody know a good reason why the positive side of the ignition coil is not fused.

In all the circuits I have seen the feed for the coil comes directly from the ignition switch and bypasses the fuse box.

That doesn't seem to be ideal to me.

 

[poolboy]

How about your head lights ...are they fused ?

 

[steveg]

I think it was considered more reliable at the time to leave the ignition and headlights unfused. Putting a fuse in the circuit would create more problems than it would solve.

 

[Sarastro]

Yes, I've always suspected that to be the reason. The fuses common in those days were not terribly reliable, and often "blew" for no obvious reason. That's a safety matter. I suspect that the headlights are unfused for the same reason. The unfused headlights and ignition are not uncommon in other cars of that era.

 

[ed_h]

On fusing headlights, it's a matter of design philosophy, and there seems to be two camps on this question. Even the range of aftermarket fuse/relay modules is split on this issue.

One option: Feed the high and low beam circuits from different fuses.

Ed