• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Use of Timing Light

19MGA60

Senior Member
Offline
I want to use a timing light on my 77 B. How do you hook it to the battery with out lengthing the wire? Or is there someplace else I can hook it to?

Thanks, tom
 
I have connected a timing light up to a hot fuse block terminal on my 76B.
Pete H.
driving.gif
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Pete Haburt:
I have connected a timing light up to a hot fuse block terminal on my 76B.
Pete H.
driving.gif
<hr></blockquote>

iagree.gif
Same here.

There may be a better way, but I remove the fuse block cover and connect the + Positive (red) lead clip to one of the fuses and connect the – Negative (black) lead clip to ground using one of the bolts that secure the coil. I also attach my tachometer in the same way then attach the pick up to the #1 plug wire.

This usually gives you plenty lead length to maneuver and position your equipment when taking measurements and making adjustments.

thirsty.gif
 
or if you want, you can use a separate battery!! It is just a power source, so sometimes I hook up a spare battery that i have kicking around!!
 
I use a 12VDC power supply - actually, the one I use was originally a small charger for motorcycle batteries. Tapping a fuse as has been suggeted works very well too.
 
Ya know, I've always tapped off the fuse box, but now I'm thinking about going down to radio shack and getting a battery holder that'll hold 12v worth of batteries and attaching a coupla leads to it.
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by aerog:
I use a 12VDC power supply - actually, the one I use was originally a small charger for motorcycle batteries. Tapping a fuse as has been suggeted works very well too.<hr></blockquote>

iagree.gif


I really like this idea and had been considering doing this too. I think I have a couple of old power supplies hanging around my garage that I can adapt to this so all I’ll need to do is plug it in to a 120VAC wall outlet.

cheers.gif
 
Battery chargers are not always filtered. A question that comes to my mind is would the 120hz 12vDC ripple cause the timing light to not read acurately?
A power supply would normally be filtered properly and I would think a pure DC would be much better.
 
Very true, they're not. I've compared readings via raw DC and off the charger/PS and have noted no variations.

I should add that my light is digital.

[ 10-27-2003: Message edited by: aerog ]</p>
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by aerog:
Very true, they're not. I've compared readings via raw DC and off the charger/PS and have noted no variations.

I should add that my light is digital.

[ 10-27-2003: Message edited by: aerog ]
<hr></blockquote>

OK, thanks.
Bob
 
Back
Top