Some details of WW2 screened ignition

[fv1609]

Does anyone with a WW2 screened ignition system still have a supply that feeds a Widerstand that then feeds the Entstörer?

 

I wonder has anyone taken either of the these apart & noted their construction or measured the resistance of either item please?

[fv1609]

For 2 years now I have been trying to look inside a WW2 German vehicle that has a screened ignition system. Apart the disappointment of finding many "German" vehicles are actually based on FV432s or Land Rovers, I have found only one genuine vehicle but the screened ignition has long since gone.

 

Does anyone know a vehicle type that used a screened ignition system and incorporated a ballast resistor?

[Funksammler]

For 2 years now I have been trying to look inside a WW2 German vehicle that has a screened ignition system. Apart the disappointment of finding many "German" vehicles are actually based on FV432s or Land Rovers, I have found only one genuine vehicle but the screened ignition has long since gone.

 

Does anyone know a vehicle type that used a screened ignition system and incorporated a ballast resistor?

 

The Horch KFZ/17 used a screened ignition system and incorparated ballast resistors. Not all German vehicle types used ballast resistors, and only the radio vehicle versions would have been fully screened.

 

Here are some examples of screened ignition components, in this case for a Horch V8 engine. Only one of the two ignition coils is still attached, the Horch V8 they used two. In any case you can recogise the distributor and ignition coil to which two boxes are attached. The larger box is the RF filter unit, the smaller box contains the ballast resistor. You can see the thin wire coming out of the ballast resistor box, this would go to the ignition lock. All the wires downstream of the ballast resistor box were shielded (including the spark plug leads which have been replaced here):

 

Here you can see the components fitted to the firewall of a Horch Kfz 17. You can see several filter boxes between the ignition coils. The two "upright" units are RF filters for the ignition coils, the small boxes connected to them contain the ballast resistors (the larger filter and the filter further to the left are for the generator/regulator circuit).

 

 

 

 

 

hope this helps,

 

Funksammler

[fv1609]

Thank you for coming back that's encouraging.

 

Would you say that all systems with a screened HT used a ballast resistor?

 

Do you know the date of the earliest example of a screened ballasted system? I have diagrams of a Berlin issued document dated 1939. I don't know whether it was introducing it or describing what was already in use.

 

Many thanks

[Funksammler]

Not all, the radio car based on the VW82 Kuebelwagen for example does have the screened ignition, but does not appear to have a ballast resistor.

 

The Horch type 901 was built from 1937, so they certainly did use the system on some vehicles at that date. Difficult to say what was the earliest application, perhaps early 1930's.

 

Another detail on the Horch radio car: for some versions (fitted with a heaviest type of generator) the resistor of one on the ignition coils was bypassed during starting (strangely not on both) to boost the ignition voltage.

 

regards,

 

Funksammler

[fv1609]

Ok thanks for the further info. The series of vehicles produced for the British Army in the 1950s used a 24v ballasted system. Similarly on start up the resistors (it was a pair) were shorted out. Much later Land Rovers used a ballasted 24v system but there was no provision to short out the ballast resistor.

 

Interesting that the VW82 is screened but not ballasted. I would have thought the improved time constant with ballast resistor would have been utilised. But as far as I can see so far no Allied vehicle designers had caught onto the benefits of having a ballasted system on screened installations.

[paul hocking]

d

Hi,

 

Do not know anything about the function or usage of these items, but the Mai 1944 VW82 parts book has this diagram for a supressed vehicle, and definitely shows the same arrangement of RF Filter Unit (item 2) and Ballast Restors (2x item 3) as per the Horch photograph .

 

My limited understanding is that these three "boxes" are standard for most small vehicles, hope it helps.

 

cheers Paul

[Funksammler]

Thanks Paul for showing the VW type 82 parts list. Here is an example of the VW radio car's setup (picture came from Ebay a long time ago):

 

 

 

The two units on the left are both RF filters for the generator (nr 2 and one of the nr 3's in the drawing). The large one filters the charging current from the generator while the smaller one filters the signal to the generator control light in the ignition lock. The small filter on the right (the other nr. 3) is the filter of the ignition coil. If you look at the pictures from the Kfz 17 setup, you can see that there is another smaller box connected to the ignition filter (which contains the ballast resistor) that it absent in the VW setup.

 

Here is a picture of the various shielded units from the drawing:

 

regards,

 

Funksammler

[Funksammler]

Sorry, still trying to get to grips with the posting of pictures on this forum.....

 

 

Thanks Paul for showing the VW type 82 parts list. Here is an example of the VW radio car's setup (picture came from Ebay a long time ago):

 

 

 

The two units on the left are both RF filters for the generator (nr 2 and one of the nr 3's in the drawing). The large one filters the charging current from the generator while the smaller one filters the signal to the generator control light in the ignition lock. The small filter on the right (the other nr. 3) is the filter of the ignition coil. If you look at the pictures from the Kfz 17 setup, you can see that there is another smaller box connected to the ignition filter (which contains the ballast resistor) that it absent in the VW setup.

 

Here is a picture of the various shielded units from the drawing:

 

regards,

 

Funksammler

[paul hocking]

Hi,

 

Unfortunately cannot see your photos, there is just a red X in a square, however thanks for the explanation, I am sure you are right, here are a couple of photos of an item I saw in Germany last year at a Oldtimer Treffen. Interesting stuff. Agh !, your photos have just appeared.

 

 

cheers Paul

[Rover8FFR]

d[ATTACH=CONFIG]71048[/ATTACH]

Hi,

 

Do not know anything about the function or usage of these items, but the Mai 1944 VW82 parts book has this diagram for a supressed vehicle, and definitely shows the same arrangement of RF Filter Unit (item 2) and Ballast Restors (2x item 3) as per the Horch photograph .

 

My limited understanding is that these three "boxes" are standard for most small vehicles, hope it helps.

 

cheers Paul

 

Those images have a scarily likeness to the EMERS we refer to. Why?

????!!