I got an electric choke for my holley 750dp. I did a search and others have theirs connected to the positive wire going to the coil.

I'm using a meter to confirm the voltage on the wire and I'm only getting a bit over 11 volts at the hot lead. There's also a green wire coming off the coil and it has around 1 volt at it.

Voltage at the battery is a bit over 12v.

I thought the coil would be at 12v. Why is there a drop in the reading there?

I don't have the carb on the car yet, so I can't start it up to see if I get 12v with the motor running.

Can I hook up the choke wire to that coil wire even though I'm not getting 12v with the key on? With the key off, it's a 0v, so I know it's a switched wire.

Ideas?

If running a points system and using the OE cloth covered wire, voltage after some time will drop to 7-9 volts because the wire is resistive, not a good power source for an electric choke heater.

You should run a separate power lead from the IGN spade at the fusebox for full electric system voltage.

I have an HEI setup and use the coil (+) to feed the choke. I replaced my resistor wire with a copper wire. If you're reading 11 volts at the coil with 12 on the battery, you're loosing a volt somewhere - most likely in the resistor wire. Try measuring between the coil (+) and the battery (+) post. Do you see a voltage drop? If so you definately have a resistor wire or a bad connection in the IGN circuit.

If you do have breaker points, your voltage reading will likely change if the points are closed. Are you seeing 11 volts with the choke connected? Bump the motor over some and see if that 11 volts doesn't plunge the 7 or 9 Everett was talking about. Breaker points need a ballast resistor or a resistor wire to prevent overheating the coil. You'll have to find another power source if you do in fact have points.

The windshield wiper motor is a popular connection point for choke heaters, though I think it's powered by the ACC circuit which isn't ideal.