Ford crank timing pickup

[Dan Stokes]

On Wed, 1 Oct 1997, Tom Cloud wrote:

> I really need to know what the pickup is on my '82 Bronco (351W).
> 
> The output from it, measuring with an oscilloscope and without
> the computer connected to it, is a unipolar pulse -- i.e. it
> only goes in one direction.  It only has two wires (well, a third
> that's connected to ground) so this indicates to me that it's either a
> coil with an integral clamping diode (why?) or is a little more
> sophisticated, like maybe a hall circuit driven by a resistor or a
> constant current with the voltage change across it being used as the
> output ????

Well Tom,  I'm probably not going to have a lot of basis for this, but it
must be a coil with a clamping diode, because in order for the hall
effect to work, there must be a current flowing through the semiconductor.

Since you were able to get a voltage with only an O-Scope hooked up (No
current supply) that voltage had to be created the old fashioned way :)


Good Luck

-Dan