inductive pickup for timing light

pickup

original

impossible

one.

Funny comment as those timing lights were always considered inferior to the inductive pick-up types. They usually consisted of a neon tube which was almost impossible to see in daylight. But you have probably got your moneys worth from it, time to buy a new one.

line

Yep, it is cheaper to do that.

would

Usually not worth the bother, sorry I can't help you with a circuit.

MrT.

Nope, either xenon or krypton. Have used the neon ones, horrible coulred effect and weak as piss. This one is real bright, daylight usable. Top drawer stuff.

Doubt it. Hasn't seena lot of use, and cost a bundle :-(

You can with a direct HT feed. Inductive obviously requires some gain to trigger the tube.

I'm keen to bother. More time than money ....

Peter,

I have a box full of brand new Hella inductive pickups here. You are welcome to one if you wish. I will have a dig around for some circuits

- should have some here somewhere. Email me and we'll take it from there (change "agw" to "andy").

Andy

I have a timing light that I like a lot, that uses 2 "D" cells for power. For me, getting rid of 2 cables is worth the price of having to keep batteries up to it. It's seen a lot of use, and the casing is starting to fragment, and I don't expect it to last forever. Not seen any others like this, so I'm wondering if it's practical to have a go at making one from scratch. Are there complete circuits available, and what needs to be different, given 3V rather than 12V power?

Jordan

could you hook it to the distributor end of the spark plug lead.

Bye. Jasen

impossible

Not as it stands. The pickup end is like a spiral spring. One end fits over a plug terminal "nut" while the other end is intended to fit inside the lead terminal like the plug nut. The dizzy terminals/caps that I'v looked at were a different diameter (for some reason).

Wow, i had forgoten what a timing light was. A friend of mine has one and asked how to use on a VT commodore the other day. No go, it has its own timing light built in to the flywheel (or somewhere). No dizzy these days.

To buy a shit inductive timing light from the local discount autostore, prolly 10-20$, to make/modify one, prolly lots more. If you want to keep the old one, fit the cheap electronics from the new one to the old one.

I appreciate your sentiments, but being time-rich-and-$$-poor (relatively) I want to work with the you-beaut one I have, which cost a lot more than the chinese shit from SuperCrap, and is undoubtedly better built..

To do anything but change the connectors to suit the 'other' plug end would certainly cost more than a new timing light. You'd need a HV inverter, battery clips, an IGBT or SCR for firing etc etc etc.

On the other hand if you want to learn something by building the thing etc then first, I suggest you identify exactly what kind of flashbulb you have, before embarking on any designs or even asking for assistance.

There are no magic fairies that can just email a schematic without knowing your exact requirements

-Andrew M

certainly

IGBT or

??????????? dunno where that sprang from. It already has the inverter etc in there. What is would need is the firing circuitry added.

first,

embarking on

It's either xenon or krypton, no markings.

exact

duh, really. what a let-down.

certainly

IGBT or

then first,

embarking on

your exact

Well, if you are really keen to DIY. Then google for any LV strobe circuit. The inductive pickup should only need a few turns on a peice of powdered iron, as I would imagine the HT from the coil will give you tons of signal. Got a cro? try wrapping a few turns around an igntion lead to see what comes out. No cro, then try the same with a small signal transistor and an LED.