Ted, actuallly the spark plug gap, its body, built in resistor and
associated plug wire are more accurately modeled as an RLC circuit.
Resistance (R), Inductance(L), Capacitance(C).
If one goes to the next order of detail, there are some parallel components
in a model also such as the parasitic capacitance of the internal plug
conductor and reisistor body to ground.
Since the higher frequency content of the non-resistor plug discharge tends
to radiate rather than contribute to the strength of the discharge in the
motor, it is mostly wasted energy for the engine.
Chuck V
From: "edward capullo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [F500] resistor plugs
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:37:28 -0400
Thanks to all who responded. I will stay with the BR9EG resistor plugs that
I can get locally from one of my sponsors ( a Kawi dealer) relatively
inexpensively. I was afraid the resistor plugs would give less performance
but I'm glad I was wrong in that thought.
Ed C.
From: "Ted Rudolph" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [F500] resistor plugs
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:42:08 -0400
Ed,
As others have said there's no performance advantage to the resistor
plugs. All the resistor does is knock the square edge off the voltage
going to the plug. A square wave (or, more accurately, a spike-square
wave) contains all sorts of high frequency energy. In the old days that
didn't matter, but as electronics became more prevalent in the cars
there was a need to reduce the interference caused by the high frequency
energy (my father said it was a common way to "fix" AM radio reception,
to give an indicator of the early real need for the plugs). In our cars
the data acquisition systems are not happy with stray high-frequency
energy, so the plugs will help them out.
In Electrical Engineering terms, the spark plug is nothing more than a
high value air-gap capacitor that's pushed past avalanche point. If you
look at the coil output on the oscilloscope, you'll see an initial spike
as the voltage builds across the capacitor, and then a drop to a plateau
as the spark jumps & ionizes the air in the gap. The resistor in line
with the capacitor creates a simple RC circuit. The rise time is a
function of the resistance & the capacitance. Increase the resistance &
you'll increase the rise time....
-Ted
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of edward
capullo
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 7:46 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [F500] resistor plugs
I am curious to see if anyone has a strong opinion one way or another
about
running resistor plugs with our engines. I have run B9EG and BR9EG and
do
not seem to notice much difference. Does running one or another have any
real advantage or issues?
Ed Capullo
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