Help me Identify Electrical Item

[uthe54]

Going over all the wiring in my Vision Razor gokart, I came across this (pic). It appeared to be inline between the enrichment circuit's ground connection. Any idea what it might be? Do you know if it is necessary?

[BuggyMaster]

That is called a ballast resister. I've only seen a few of these but there are in fact some manufacturers using them. They used to be used all the time in cars up until the mid 70's. It is probably necessary if they had it on there but I don't have a buggy now that has one to remember what they are using them for.

[ckau]

My yerfs use these in the fuel enrichment circuit.
judging from what a ballast resisters is used for, I imagine it is inline to keep a steady current to the enrichener . The enrichener is fed with fluctuating current from the stator so this type of resister serve as as a sort of voltage regulator. I would have to assume a steady current is needed to keep the plunger hold in the closed position properly. With a current drop the plunger will open. Just a sophisticated wild ass guess here!

[GX150]

They are actually called current limiting resistors. The fuel enrichment circuit choke is a coil that heats up a wax type material to extend a plunger(blocking off the extra fuel when warm). If you apply power to this coil without the current limiter, it will overheat and burn out the coil. The resistor sits between the choke and ground.

[uthe54]

Thanks for the replies.

Sounds reasonable. I'll put it back on then. My other gokart (SUNL) doesn't have one. any ideas why? Perhaps the Vision has the enrichment circuit on the A/C side, while the SUNL has the enrichment on the D/C side?

Actually, this leads me to another question... the elelctrical enrichment piece is broken on the vision. I was thinking about buying an entire new carb for it, which are pretty cheap, but I see on other forums people saying they're unreliable anyway, and they just block them off. Anyone here block off their enrichment circuits, or convert them to manual primer style instead?

-mikeC

[GX150]

I think you will have rough starting and idling bellow 50 degrees without a choke. If you don't plan on riding in colder weather this will not be an issue.

The 24mm carburetors can be converted to manual choke using Mc Donough Powersports conversion kit.

[ckau]

Originally Posted by GX150

They are actually called current limiting resistors. The fuel enrichment circuit choke is a coil that heats up a wax type material to extend a plunger(blocking off the extra fuel when warm). If you apply power to this coil without the current limiter, it will overheat and burn out the coil. The resistor sits between the choke and ground.

Well... so much for an educated guess, I wasn't even close!!!! Thanks , GX for getting us straight on this one!