DirectHits ... ?

[Alan Pritchard]

hmm, sounds familiar, dont a lot of bikes run an individual capacitor on
each plug? also a lot of modern cars ive seen,  it allows you to only have
to switch low currents, ie. no distributor, so maybe something like this
would be useful to make a fully mappable ignition system,  or maybe your
better off just ignoring them.  but seriously what larry says is right,
without currant being passed to them, they cant charge, hmm, now if you
charged them from a 12v source and switched them with the dizzy, that would
work i think. i toyed with the idea of using 5 coils once, in theory it
would work, and youd never have a problem with spark on a high
compression/boost motor.  Although  saying that anything that can give a
longer spark is extremely useful to promote an even burn, and in our low
compression motors this would be an asset i believe.  dunno,  the ramblings
of a mad man...............
----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry C Leung" <l.leung at juno.com>
To: <gerard at poboxes.com>
Cc: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 6:14 AM
Subject: Re: DirectHits ... ?


> 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...)
> >