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RE: Spark Plug Wire Size

To: Jay_Laifman@countrywide.com, alpines@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Spark Plug Wire Size
From: Jarrid Gross <JGross@econolite.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:48:16 -0700
Jay wrote,

>Another thing, last night, I pulled off my distributor cap and found that
>the little button that connects with the rotor had fallen off.  All that
>was behind the button was a thin gauge spring.  Seems kind of ironic to
>seek out larger wires when before you even get to the wires, the spring is
>very thin.


I have had opportunity to play with the inards of magnecore wire.  Its a
spiral wound resistance wire, with a good quality silicone jacket.

Size definatly doesnt matter as far as energy is concerned, but the 
jacket thickness has a great deal to due with the voltage that the wires
will take before the jacket insulation breaks down, so if you are running
a 40 or 60 kv coil, then its not a bad idea to use the larger jacket
wires to prevent arcing.

The issue with he spring and its small size in relation to the wires is
also a non-issue becuase the high tension side of the coil lacks substancial
current, and small conductors "spring wire" will easily pass the ignition
current without heating the conductor.

I think in the best of ignition systems "low inductance coil CD", the wire 
current is less than 1 ampere peak when the combustion chamber ionizes and
the plug is essentially shorted to ground.  Otherwise the ingition current
is perhaps 10 ma average across 1 millasecond producing about 100 mj 
of spark energy.



Jarrid Gross

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