summit holley type 4 bbl carb on a '68 383 - I found red positive wire had never been hooked up - wondering how critical that is and what type choke/start-up performance this causes. I can tell you I have to keep nursing it gas till it's warmed up. Got no second set of eyes to help me out on this..I have noticed when it's sitting there ice cold the butterfly is closed leaving about a 3/8" opening. comments appreciated.thnx
electric choke question
- Thread starter Dave NEO
- Start date
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If elec choke and red wire not hooked up then it is not or wasnt working. I attached mine to ballast resistor
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Is it an electric choke? Have you checked the red wire to see if it is hot with the key on?
A Holley choke can be adjusted, close the blade until the car idles cold. Then with current to the choke it will slowely open.
Just opening up the cold start is hard to control until warm.
A Holley choke can be adjusted, close the blade until the car idles cold. Then with current to the choke it will slowely open.
Just opening up the cold start is hard to control until warm.
Clever disguise.
You know what your issue is, obviously without power the choke will not work. Continue nursing’s it and keep washing the cylinder walls down!
You know what your issue is, obviously without power the choke will not work. Continue nursing’s it and keep washing the cylinder walls down!
yes it's an electric choke - there is no red power lead attached, just the ground wire. I can find a proper 12v source to use and hook it up but I am wondering how it will change how it currenty is working.
The coil in the choke will make the butterfly go closed when it's cold. The heater in the cover helps the choke come open. It will eventually open with engine heat but will be running on the rich side until it does. Yes, there should be 2 wires or terminals on the choke. The power wire (red) can get 12 volts from the power side of the ballast or the 12 volt feed to the alternator. Anywhere there's battery voltage when the key is on and none when the key is off will work.
If the choke is working properly, when the engine is cold & you push the accelerator pedal the choke blade will close. As the engine warms up, the choke blade will open until it's completely open. You will have to experiment with the round black cup that controls the coil stat inside. The lead should be attached to an ignition on hot wire to work properly.
ok guys thanks- we'll have to try it out. I don't know why PO that added the carb did not bother with the choke. I just don't want to muck it up so I'm asking a few probably obvious (to you) questions but it helps. I got a laugh out of this old vid but it has some still relevant content..
Along with closing the choke butterfly the electric choke will engage the fast idle cam, increasing idle RPM when cold. With no choke you will need to pump the pedal several times on a cold start. Then the engine will tend to die because it is running too lean and too slow.
Yes- that's exactly what it does now. I'll get a hot lead to that and see how it does w/o any adjustment to the choke then go from there. Trick is to be sure the butterfly is full open when it's warmed up I suppose. Might hit 40 here on Wed. so we can mess around in garage. 13 now.
Yes.
Power to the electric choke heats up a coil which causes a thermostatic spring to rotate and open the butterfly. The unheated spring is what closes the butterfly. The added heat uncoils the spring allowing the choke to open. On a non-running engine, putting power to the red/hot wire to the choke, you should feel decreasing spring pressure to close the choke. The choke will open most of the way. On a running engine the airflow will aid the choke to fully open.
Well said! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Does anyone know how much current the typical aftermarket electric chokes can draw? I ask because there are members here who tied their aftermarket electric choke to the only switched 12 volt source in the engine bay, the blue wire. ( We can only guess some type of electronic ignition module was also added ). Then they post their "no start" and "poor spark" and/or "charging system" issues.
In the earlier builds the pizzy little wires through that ignition switch were barely adequate for the charging system and points ignition they served.
I don't know how much current the electronic ignitions and other things draw either.
Just wondering... How much stuff can be added onto the blue wire?
How much is too much for the earlier dash mounted ignition switches and their wiring?
In the earlier builds the pizzy little wires through that ignition switch were barely adequate for the charging system and points ignition they served.
I don't know how much current the electronic ignitions and other things draw either.
Just wondering... How much stuff can be added onto the blue wire?
How much is too much for the earlier dash mounted ignition switches and their wiring?
good question, I was thinking about. I tied it into one side of the ballast resistor (BTW my resistor terminals got tied together with a common wire in EI conversion). Draw will still go though that lovely party pack on the firewall I think though ..hope it's not a lot. I relieved some of the current draw from headlights with use of relays but any heating coils are known to use some amperage... Also doesn't it continue to draw the entire time the engine is running even though the coil has expanded fully and opened the butterfly? seems so.
I see the choke is working now - butterfly opens up within a minute or so.. will try to start and run today and see how it does.
I see the choke is working now - butterfly opens up within a minute or so.. will try to start and run today and see how it does.
Headlight circuit has no effect on this but similar relay application can apply to this circuit should we find its needed.
A heating element is a resistor of sorts. As the elements temperature changes its total resistance changes. So in theory the element is passing more current when hot.
When the factory placed electric choke assist in the well with the thermal choke coil they placed a choke voltage controller in the supply line. Inside that controller looked like 2 of their instrument voltage limiters, mechanical point on bi-metal, etc... We don't know what might be inside aftermarket choke assemblies.
Many of us have hooked the choke to the ballast resistor mostly for convenience. I see Edelbrock doesn't recommend it. I am not finding any info about if the coil has constant current drain or if it shuts off. We need to figure out a better but simple way to power these things. A relay would be the best.
I just submitted a question to the Edelbrock tech line.
If it's 5 amp or less something like this might work. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PD65UGA/?tag=fabo03-20
I don't think they can tell us how much load the blue wire / switched hot circuit in a pre 70 a-body can handle. They do know that attaching at the coil or the wrong side of ballast resistor would result in less than 12 volts to their choke ( due to the ballast resistor ), whether the choke robs voltage from other circuits or not.
A time delay relay would be good as long as it could be set to shut off in 10 min or so.
I just asked them if the choke shuts off when open. If we can have a conversation I will ask what current the coil heater draws.Yes, they won''t be able to tell us what our circuits can handle. The ballast wire could control a relay though.
@halifaxhops hooks his up to the 12v. side of the ballast but also uses a time delay from the slant 6's to shut it off. I would think there's enough engine heat to keep the choke open with the electricity shut off.
Just over 5Amps, I tested in the past...
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