DirectHits ... ?

[Larry C Leung]

I always wondered on these. A capacitor will delay the spark to the
cylinder (in a predictable fashion, mind you) compared to when the
distributor THINKS it fired. At the least, the timing MUST be bumped to
start firing at the correct time. It is potentially (bad electrician's
joke) capable of giving a more powerful spark of longer duration,
assuming there is enough time and energy (when the wire is not charging,
i.e. NOT) for the capacitor to charge between sparks. Since there is no
current flowing into the capacitor when the rotor is not at the
particular plug wire, I don't see how the capacitor could charge, i.e.,
as far as I can tell, all these do is delay the spark, AND due to losses
in the charge, discharge process, probably give less spark energy! If you
could modify the distributor so that it ONLY serves as a timing device,
and NOT the charge energy delivery device, THEN you could actually
achieve the benefits of capacitor charged spark plugs. (i.e. continous
lower energy lower voltage trickle charges applied to the spark plug
wire, capacitor is charged waiting for a signal from the distributor,
then BAM, big spark!). Otherwise, I think it's a waste of money. 


the Physics Teacher 

On Tue, 31 Jul 2001 09:25:52 +0200 Gerard <gerard at poboxes.com> writes:
>Hi!
>
>I saw these mentioned in a British magazine a few months ago and now
>I've come across them while searching AskJeeves. They claim a larger
>spark, similar to running a ignition amplifier. These seem to be
>capacitors fitted on the plugs and then the plug wire fitted to the
>capacitor. Pretty much sounds like the old Nology wires concept.
>
>The url is: http://www.directhits.com
>
>I'm looking for opinions on the idea. The website sounds like a
>infomercial. Pricey stuff too.
>
>Thanks.
>
>G.
>--
>1989 Audi 200 (minus engine...)
>