Condenser Capacitance
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- This topic has 18 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 2 months ago by frankr.
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January 18, 2021 at 10:36 pm #228131
points pit quicker. to high they pit one direction, to low they pit the other way.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by dave-bernard.
Wasn’t there something back in the day, when cars had points and condensers,
regarding points pitting on one contact or the other? Think it had to do
with the polarity of the coil, i.e, whether you had the positive
from the battery hooked to the correct post on the coil.
Also, I remember something in the manuals about using a lead pencil
to determine which way is correct……. be darned if I can remember
how that worked though!Prepare to be boarded!
January 18, 2021 at 11:20 pm #228132With the battery ignition if you wired the coil the coil neg to distributor coil positive to battery spark jumped from spark plug wire to ground .If you reversed the wires plus to ground the spark jumped from ground to wire.The pencil was inserted between wire and ground end of spark plug and spark plug wire you could see which way the spark jumped.
January 19, 2021 at 7:57 am #228145Quote from Fine Homebuilding magazine…. “Windows are like old men… eventually they all leak” …. so check your windows to 🙂
Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂
January 19, 2021 at 9:32 am #228146With the battery ignition if you wired the coil the coil neg to distributor coil positive to battery spark jumped from spark plug wire to ground .If you reversed the wires plus to ground the spark jumped from ground to wire.The pencil was inserted between wire and ground end of spark plug and spark plug wire you could see which way the spark jumped.
Yeah, I remember those days. As far as I can remember, the theory was that the spark jumped easier from the hot center electrode for the same reason radio vacuum tubes had red hot glowing cathodes. An interesting fact though, is that OMC V-4 magnetos produced two positive sparks and two negative sparks per revolution. Just something to lay awake pondering on tonight.
January 19, 2021 at 9:45 am #228147Frank, interesting stuff, but it sounds like you may be lacking some sleep!
Prepare to be boarded!
January 19, 2021 at 1:02 pm #228158And at my age, I (ahem) leak pretty badly.
Notwithstanding, I read Mr. Mohat’s article. He did a pretty good job at saying what he was trying to say, and I applaud him for it. Coil/Capacitance (LC) circuits are pretty complicated and magneto ignition circuits are no exception. There are a lot of things happening every time it produces a spark, and it is hard to explain it all in terms understandable to a novice. In fact, I get some more grey hairs every time I think about it. And I have a diploma that says I am a TV repairman (Not). But to share a grey hair, when the magneto points open, electrons flow into the capacitor and the voltage across the capacitor increases with time It is mighty fast, but not instant. When the time is up, the electrons flow back out in the opposite direction in series with the coil. It is that reversal in direction that induces a spark voltage in the secondary winding. A way too big (mfd) capacitor will not charge up to as high a voltage in the time available as would a small capacitor. Also, a leaky capacitor loses energy through the leak just as a leaky bucket takes longer to fill with water.. On top of all that, there is an issue with RPM.
OK, I’ve got everybody confused now, including myself.
KISS is a good thing.
Flow back out the opposite direction??? but there is only one wire????? Yes I am confused…lol
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classicomctools@gmail.comJanuary 19, 2021 at 1:39 pm #228161A bad capacitor or one with the wrong uF rating will cause metal transfer across the contacts, better known as arcing and pitting, along with poor spark at the plug. Too high a uF rating, metal transfers from one contact to the other. Too low a rating, metal transfers the opposite way.
January 19, 2021 at 2:14 pm #228167accumulated electrons can flow either way… wires are like streets…you can drive either way unless you have a ONE WAY sign …(diodes for electrons 🙂 )
Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂
January 19, 2021 at 3:12 pm #228169And at my age, I (ahem) leak pretty badly.
Notwithstanding, I read Mr. Mohat’s article. He did a pretty good job at saying what he was trying to say, and I applaud him for it. Coil/Capacitance (LC) circuits are pretty complicated and magneto ignition circuits are no exception. There are a lot of things happening every time it produces a spark, and it is hard to explain it all in terms understandable to a novice. In fact, I get some more grey hairs every time I think about it. And I have a diploma that says I am a TV repairman (Not). But to share a grey hair, when the magneto points open, electrons flow into the capacitor and the voltage across the capacitor increases with time It is mighty fast, but not instant. When the time is up, the electrons flow back out in the opposite direction in series with the coil. It is that reversal in direction that induces a spark voltage in the secondary winding. A way too big (mfd) capacitor will not charge up to as high a voltage in the time available as would a small capacitor. Also, a leaky capacitor loses energy through the leak just as a leaky bucket takes longer to fill with water.. On top of all that, there is an issue with RPM.
OK, I’ve got everybody confused now, including myself.
KISS is a good thing.
Flow back out the opposite direction??? but there is only one wire????? Yes I am confused…lol
And that brings us to another confusing fact. Electrons flow from negative to positive (electron theory)—OR–positive to negative ((conventional theory). Depending on which school you go to. But it REALLY flows negative to positive (electron theory), but most schools teach that it flows positive to negative (conventional theory) because most people THINK that is the way it goes. If you want to understand radio vacuum tubes, you have to sign in to the electron theory.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by frankr.
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