[ARC5] Magnetoes

[Robert Eleazer]

If the ignition switch is set to "Both" that means that neither mag is grounded and that both spark plugs in each cylinder are firing.

When the ignition switch is set to "Off" that means both mags are grounded.

Interesting thing about magnetos - they require special switches for grounding.  I had a lawnmower that had one of those stupid "hold the bar to keep it running" safety devices.  Problem was, the printed instructions for hooking up that feature were missing a page.  It was literally like "And then you have to...."   Contacting the company produced nothing decipherable as useful data.  So I hooked up an ordinary toggle switch and used that to turn the mag on and off.

Very shortly thereafter I found that the toggle switch no longer turned off the mag - it was always on.  I replaced it and the same thing occurred.

I guess that a switch rated at 125V/5 amps cannot handle the thousands of volts produced by a magneto - it shorts across it in short order.

Wayne