LT coils

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Rival
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Low Tension Coils,

Why are they made with such girly light gauge wire?
holty
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because it needs a lot of windings to get the high voltage needed,a weak link in the lambretta electronic ignition system, im not using mine on my rotax conversion, I have a tambs external pickup and cdi unit running off the lighting coils, easy to fit and reliable up to now, also easy to change as the flywheel doesn't have to come off.
Adam_Winstone
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Do be aware that there is more to the LT coil than the thickness/gauge of wire alone. Whilst most of them look to be similar in construction, they range from great to pathetic as far as reliability is concerned.

Without a doubt IMO there is no comparison to be had between Vespa OEM/Ducati/or Ceab LT coils and the others on the market. Q: How many original Italian Vespas suffer LT coil failure?... A: Very few... or at worst, very infrequently. Please note, do not confuse Vespa OEM or Ducati with the untold aftermarket fakes that litter Ebay! I've been asked to replace failed LT coils on a number of fake Ducati marked Vespa stators that I can assure you have never been anywhere near Ducati!!! Indeed, the LT coils where not even the Ducati core size, rather being the same Indian laminate core thickness that identifies them as being another knock-off.

The LT wire needs to be very thin, with increased number of turns to function as an LT coil, unlike the lighting coils, which use a thicker wire with fewer turns (different Amp/Volt output to suit function). This makes it much more susceptible to damage/failure and is one of the reasons why a number of places (e.g. Readspeed, Anthony Tambs, etc.) have started to produce CDIs that are powered by the more reliable lighting circuit, so doing away with the less reliable LT coil.

Your other option is to upgrade to a Vespa original LT coil or Ceab replacement coil. These will give a massive improvement in reliability but are not cheap. NB: These are direct replacement for a genuine Ducati stator but will need the stator base modified if you choose to use either on a SIL/Indian stator plate.

LT failure does get very boring after a while, which makes simply replacing with another cheap stator a bit of a gamble. I do know of the occasional SIL stator that has given very good reliable service for many years, however, I've known way too many Indian stators to fail... way too many. BGM made their name in the stator field by offering a much more reliable stator, selling untold number for years, however, with the vast number of BGM stators out there the number of reported failures of these has also gone up. NB: I would take my chances on a BGM stator every time over an Indian one... but I'd still opt for a Ceab/Vespa upgraded LT coil if that was an option. That said, I've been running one of the new generation lighting circuit type (Lukas from Readspeed) and that is serving me well, which may be an easier way for many (less able at modifying stators) to bypass the issues that they're having, and/or to use the failed LT coil stators that they already have sitting on a shelf.

I hope that this helps and/or serves as food for thought.

Adam
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kejj
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Tried googling ceat lt and found nothing. Who sales them?


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HxPaul
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kejj
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Wonder if they also make pick up coils

Thank you for the link. Not obvious it was a Ceab
HxPaul wrote:The LT coils are ceab not ceat https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/prod ... +_16579100
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________________________
Lambretta LiS150 1965 - MBGM RT195 w/MBGM Clubman & Keihin PWK28
Lambretta TV175 1962 - GranTurismo 200 w/MBGM Clubman & Dellorto PHBH 28
http://tv175.wordpress.com/
Rival
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Thank-you for the replies, I did forget to mention I'm running a Varitronic system.

I've ordered a replacement stator, but I might replace the whole unit next time it fails.

But for the Varitronic LT coil, is there any fixes that can be done?
Adam_Winstone
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Ah, that changes everything!

Anthony Tambs recently put up some info about Varitronic stator repairs on Facebook (or other ), however, I would not look for that, rather, get in touch with Anthony and ask him directly.

Adam
firekdp
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Rival wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:02 amBut for the Varitronic LT coil, is there any fixes that can be done?
Unfortunately the coils on these are moulded on to the stator so can't be replaced. I suppose it could be rewound by hand in situ if you could remove the very hard protective coating over the original.
What ohms reading are you getting from it?
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