how the coils work

[greyhound 7]

Have a 26 briggs ELS twin. While you are cranking over the engine the 12 volts is exciting the coils. The engine starts. Question is do the coils always get 12 volts while running from the battery? Or when you release the key it shuts off the 12 volts from the battery to the coils. And then the alternator takes over.  I felt the battery wire that feeds the coil and thought it was a little warm to suit me. or is this normal. Thanks

[pacer 3,173]

The battery voltage should NEVER touch the coil!! The one wire (likely black) is strictly a 'kill' wire. The voltage that makes the spark comes directly from the rotating flywheels magnet whizzing round & round making the coil create the necessary spark.

 

I learned this the hard way 

 

[Achto 27,597]

1 hour ago, greyhound said:

Question is do the coils always get 12 volts while running from the battery?

Where are you placing you meter leads to see this voltage.

 

To my knowledge Briggs & Stratton never used a battery ignition, they were all magneto ignition. Magneto coils have to be grounded out to kill the engine. 

 

 

[wallfish 17,005]

Typically the charging circuit and the ignition circuit are completely separate systems. 

I'm guessing the wire you're measuring voltage on and feeling heat on is the charging circuit wire and not the ignition. A loose ground for the regulator might be causing the heat

[953 nut 55,281]

As has been said above, don't put 12 volts to your ignition coil unless you want to buy a new one to replace the one you fried.

You should read full battery voltage on the charging system with the key on and engine not running and a bit higher DC voltage with the engine running.