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  • Plug wire resistance...

    First off, I must admit that I have been cheating on you guys on another bike forum...
    This is only because I am up to my neck in ratting out a 1984 Venture and there is just so much relevant overlap, but I read a post there that got me thinking.

    Anyway...I installed Accel coils on the SF. I used the yellow wires that came standard with the Accels. These are an 8mm yellow silicon wire with a resistive, supressive core. Because I wanted a stock look, I bought NGK plug caps with 5k resistors and replaced the resistors with a metal slug to make them into zero resistance caps. The problem is that I was not too impressed with the core of the Accel wires. It looked like the conductive part of the core was a black hollow wire around a fiber string and I didn't feel confident that the NGK plugs were making a good contact. The bike started and ran fine. I bought copper cored wires anyway and was planning to install them. The Venture post that got me thinking stated "that the TCI EXPECTS to see 3ohms in the primary and 10k ohms in the secondary coil..." That was news to me. I had thought that the secondary resistance was not an issue for the bike and if wanted to max out the spark energy then copper cores in the wire and zero resistance caps was the way to go. I under stand that there are radio and EMI issues to consider with zero resistance in the secondaries...but if I don't care about the local cages experiencing a crackle or two as I drive by, should I be concerned about my SF's welfare..?

    Input welcome...

    Regards,

    Gareth.

  • #2
    Gareth, first of all you're going directly to hell for cheating on us Second, the primaries are all that matters to the TCI's, they don't care in the least about the secondaries. I know, they talk to me in my sleep.

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    • #3
      I know, they talk to me in my sleep.
      I have a recurring nightmare where a tiny pilot jet is screaming, "I'm blocked...help me"
      Thanks for the info, Randy.
      As for Hell? Been there. Emigrated.

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      • #4
        The amperage is so small in a secondary ignition setup that resistance is futile (or negligible ). V=IR. If I is a couple milliamps, then it will take about 10,000 ohms to make 10V and since the actual voltage is 30,000V, at 10,000 ohms the current will be about three amps. If you double the resistance, it will go to 1.5 amps current. Since current isn't a big deal, you can up the resistance quite a bit and still be ok. With higher resistance, you will have a bit shorter spark dwell, and more coil oscillation, but once again, there isn't too much to worry about with a solid state ignition.
        Ich habe dich nicht gefragt.

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