Condensors all alike?

[newport dave]

Re: Condensors all alike?

Paul,<br />The ignition system being discussed is a inductive system. When the points close, the 12v circuit in the coil primary is completed and the coil primary winding begins to build a charge, and a magnetic field is created. When the points open, the magnetic field created collapses and induces a high voltage in the coil secondary winding, which is then discharged in the form of a spark at the plug. Without the condenser, the charged coil primary would discharge across the point gap when the points opened, and no secondary ignition voltage would be created.<br /><br />The process of "pulsing" the coil primary to induce high secondary voltage discharge is used by a Capactive Discharge Ignition (like MSD) systems only. <br /><br />Dave

 

[paulrfrancisco]

Re: Condensors all alike?

Thanks for the clarification... Its been a very long time since I had to think about how this stuff worked.....

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Condensors all alike?

There ya go...Thanks waterone and Paul. I'm much more informed on this gray area now. My Father was a TV repairmen all his life starting in the 50's with his own business, so I damn sure aint stupid (sorry Trog) but I never picked up much...liked mechanics better. I probably should state my reason for wanting to do this. The condenser screw in TINY. And SO EASY to strip the threads, or loosen and come out (this is a 1977 year unit-so it has a few in and outs over the years), and I do NOT want to drop it into the distributer to find the black hole, and have to pull the unit (or trash the weights). You have to do it blind (I'm a chevy guy, but those ford blocks with the electrics up front make sense to me at times!) . Sure I can pull the unit, but I'm talking out on the water with a problem, as nothing (well, almost) breaks on the trailer. Sure I can pull the unit in my slip or on the trailer, but if I did, I would upgrade to electronic probably instead. Just thinking about some stuff that needs attention before it goes back into the water. Anyway, thanks for the electronic info...I'm pretty good at letting the smoke out, and more I learn, the better I can keep the air clean! Robby

 

[trog100]

Re: Condensors all alike?

my version of what the condensor does without being too technical is to simply short out the ac like voltage spike of about 300 volts which gets fed back to the points when the secondary winding lets go the several thousand volts it has built up to the sparkplug.. this happens as the points open and would otherwise try and flash back into the 12 volts via the points gap.. this would cause exessive sparking at the points.. the reason for em not lasting very long.. but it would also slow down the switching and make the system less efficient..<br /><br />transistor ignition is better for three basic reasons..<br /><br />it dosnt wear out..<br /><br />more current can be fed to the primary cos there aint no points to to limit it..<br /><br />it also switches on and off quicker than points do making the system more efficient.. u get a better spark at the plugs with faster switching..<br /><br />u could write pages on this stuff.. mine is just the "simplemans" version but it does for me..<br /><br />trog100<br /><br />ps.. we kinda cross posted robbie if i had of read your last post i wouldnt have made this one.. still it might be of use to some..

 

[trog100]

Re: Condensors all alike?

another adulterated post removed by original poster..<br /><br /><br />trog100

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Condensors all alike?

["ps.. the folks who silently moderate this forum dont understand irony either.. otherwise my earlier post would not have been subtly rewritten.. which of course completely altered its meaning.."]<br /><br />I'm only guessing here but I doubt that anything was left of your post after the swear words were removed!<br /><br />Robby, the condenser is matched to the coil output, very smart techs work out the details so that your points last the longest possible time. A condenser that is to small won't handle the spike, a condenser that is too big will accept too much and collapse the field which will result in little or no spark especially at higher RPM. As waterone said, most condensers are very close in ratings - but not exact. These systems switch in terms of milliseconds, any alteration will have an affect. <br /><br />Aldo

 

[rayjay]

Re: Condensors all alike?

I remember reading somewhere that an over capacity cond causes build up on one side of the points and an under capacity on the other side. Now if I could just remember which

 

[jimmythekid]

Re: Condensors all alike?

Originally posted by trog100:<br /> (EDIT)..<br />

thats not very nice. this site is intended for fellow boaters to help each other out, and lift each other up.<br /><br />Some of our opinions are best kept to ourselves

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Condensors all alike?

Originally posted by trog100:<br /> (EDIT)<br />

Trog, I don't even read your post anymore on ANY forum. You treat this forum like a little kids chat room..............last I care to deal with you. Goodbye (hehe)

 

[JB]

Re: Condensors all alike?

Say, Trog.<br /><br />Anytime a moderator edits a post there is a message at the bottom of the post telling who edited it and when. It was there on the post you refer to.<br /><br />The post contained forbidden language, which Mod 4 removed, rather than deleting the whole post.<br /><br />Subsequent posts insult other members. That is also forbidden and has been removed.

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

Re: Condensors all alike?

Robby, I think Dunaruna has a point (pardon the pun)I failed to take the timing issue into account, as far as my inital post went. I still think an ignition system is a fairly slow circuit compared to radio circuits (5000 cycles per minute as opposed to 100 million cycles per second). But just to be sure, I have to again suggest my second post, if you really want to remote your condensor, buy the exact replacement, and keep the leads as short as possible....don't forget to seal the distributor around the wire to keep the explosion proof rating.