I bought an old Balkamp timing light off eBay, hoping it would be good. Maybe not.

Came with a blue, red and black clamp connections. Hooked the red and black to positive and negative battery connections, and the blue to spark plug #1 wire.

Pulled the trigger, felt a lot of vibrating, but the strobe light isn't coming on.

How do I figure out what's wrong? Took it apart, and nothing looked amiss.

I usually think old tools = higher quality which is why I bought it in the first place, but maybe that wasn't such a smart idea. On examination, it does seem like a high-quality tool though. Would love to fix it if possible.

Anyone know how to diagnose?

I think you've already diagnosed it. The vibration tells me that the switch, wiring and transformer are OK. The only thing left is the strobe itself (I think).
If it has a brand name and/or numbers on it, try websearch for the numbers, or search for "electronic parts distributors." There are several listings there. Good luck!

BC

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'64 Dart GT convertible, 64 Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust (the Az Dart) & a sixty THREE Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust. (future project)
Early Dart Disorder (EDD) is real, and I've got it!

Is it possible I'm not correctly connecting the wires?

Red and Black should go to the battery terminals, that seems obvious.

I'm 'clamping' the blue lead to the #1 wire. As in, clamping it to the outside of the wire.

I'm still getting a strong vibration when I pull the trigger of the gun, but no strobe.

Do you think this is correct, or am I actually supposed to be connecting the blue lead a different way, to an actual metal wire source?? I keep hearing about how there are 'adapters' that go between plug #1, and the wire that allow you to hook up the lead, but mine doesn't have any such adapter. Blue lead has a clamp that looks like it's supposed to just clamp to the outside of the wire.

Thoughts?

Flip the clamp on the spark plug wire over 180 degrees.

Sometimes the clamps are directional and work better in one direction.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

If your timing light has just an aligator clip on the blue wire you need an adapter. Only inductive lights clip over the wires.
Pic of an adapter you can make, you can also pull a boot back if they are loose.


This is what an inductive pick up would look like,

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Mattelderca
78 NYB (gone now), two S series, three old Snow Cruisers and a Doo.

Mattelderca your advice did help. Since I don't have an adapter or the pieces of an old plug, I took an old spark plug wire, stripped a section of the middle, and clamped the blue lead to the bare wire. After connecting the timing light, and holding the trigger for a moment, I thought it wasn't working, but then the strobe started flashing. The flash was neither brilliant nor blinding, but it strobed.

It worked long enough for me to see where TDC is ending up, but the strobe functionality is erratic. After getting it to work for a short time, now it won't strobe any longer, even after pulling and holding the trigger for a minute or longer. The light is vibrating and the back end is warming up, so there must be something in need of replacement. The strobe bulb (more like a bent tube of glass, maybe with a gas inside?) doesn't exactly look as though it was designed to be replaced!

How to diagnose/test what needs replacing?

If it works at all I suspect the light is fine. Your secondary ignition voltage may not be enough to fire the light leading to intermittent/erratic function. Or another way of looking at it - your light may not be sensitive enough. Are there any adjustable potentiometers within it?

If your attempting to fix this for nostalgia's sake, ok. Otherwise if you just want a working timing light go buy a cheapie modern clamp-on style and save yourself the headache.

I thought about this more, and I agree: I believe there's something else going on. I am going to change the direction the wire is clamping. I think I may have inadvertently switched the direction of the lead clamp between when it was working and when it didn't. Apparently, that can make a difference. Weird.
Not sensitive enough? Should I be connecting the lead someplace other than the spark plug wire to try and get more juice? No adjustable potentiometers that I'm aware of. When I opened it up, everything looked fairly sealed.
Nostalgia? Not primarily. I find older tools (in general) are more well-made, still function fine, and last longer than many new tools. But sometimes I forget the old tools may actually be worn out.

This one didn't cost me anything, so I was hoping to get it working so I wouldn't have to spend $ on another. Especially considering I won't have abundant or frequent need for one.