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Spark Plug Wire Resistance
- Thread starter MikeH
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[ QUOTE ]
Less resistance should equal more spark, especially if you're running a hotter coil. Right? Thanks, Mike
63 TR4 Surrey Top
[/ QUOTE ]
Hi Mike,
Plug wire resistance is not much of a factor in how hot the spark is. When you consider that the plug gap has tens of thousand ohms of resistance, a couple of thousand ohms in the plug wires adds little to the overall picture. There is also the distributor rotor to cap air gap involved which is also thousands of ohms.
Some carbon core (resistor) wires do reduce the radiated electrical "noise" which can create radio interference. The usual problem with carbon core wires is mechanical, in that the wire end connections are somewhat fragile & sometimes fail. Distributor caps & plug connectors which use a piercing device to make the electrical connections will not work for long with carbon core resistance wires. If you want the best of both worlds, there are helically wound, wire center plug wires, that work very well to reduce noise & still have good mechanical strength.
Resistance type wires that measure more than about 6,000 ohms are possibly damaged & should be replaced.
A coil with higher output voltage capability will still only put out enough voltage to jump the spark gaps. Typically 20 to 25 thousand volts. The rest of the voltage capability is largely never used. As with all such things, there may be some exceptions, but not many.
D
Less resistance should equal more spark, especially if you're running a hotter coil. Right? Thanks, Mike
63 TR4 Surrey Top
[/ QUOTE ]
Hi Mike,
Plug wire resistance is not much of a factor in how hot the spark is. When you consider that the plug gap has tens of thousand ohms of resistance, a couple of thousand ohms in the plug wires adds little to the overall picture. There is also the distributor rotor to cap air gap involved which is also thousands of ohms.
Some carbon core (resistor) wires do reduce the radiated electrical "noise" which can create radio interference. The usual problem with carbon core wires is mechanical, in that the wire end connections are somewhat fragile & sometimes fail. Distributor caps & plug connectors which use a piercing device to make the electrical connections will not work for long with carbon core resistance wires. If you want the best of both worlds, there are helically wound, wire center plug wires, that work very well to reduce noise & still have good mechanical strength.
Resistance type wires that measure more than about 6,000 ohms are possibly damaged & should be replaced.
A coil with higher output voltage capability will still only put out enough voltage to jump the spark gaps. Typically 20 to 25 thousand volts. The rest of the voltage capability is largely never used. As with all such things, there may be some exceptions, but not many.
D
Online
As always Dave has pretty much laid it all out there. As an adendum to his post though I'll add this thought. If you are looking for hotter spark then you need to consider a different plug, not plug wires, or coil.
