Plug wire resistence

[Horsepwraddict]

Was sitting around, looking at plug wires and kept seeing aftermarket wires advertised with 'only' 40ohms per foot and i think im over thinking this.

-If the resistence goes down, there will be less of a load, creating a smaller voltage drop across the wire and allowing more current flow to bridge the plug gap.

-That is the most sensible explanation, but say you add resistence, and a coil that is capable of maintaining the same voltage despite the bigger load, amperage is going to go up and give you a hotter spark.

Could somebody clarify this for me, I thnk im just coming up with excuses why each could be better.

 

[Anonymous]

Was sitting around, looking at plug wires and kept seeing aftermarket wires advertised with 'only' 40ohms per foot and i think im over thinking this.

-If the resistence goes down, there will be less of a load, creating a smaller voltage drop across the wire and allowing more current flow to bridge the plug gap.

-That is the most sensible explanation, but say you add resistence, and a coil that is capable of maintaining the same voltage despite the bigger load, amperage is going to go up and give you a hotter spark.

Could somebody clarify this for me, I thnk im just coming up with excuses why each could be better.

what u need to think off is how much "force" is needed to jump the spark plug gap. wich when under presure due to compresion is alot. coils only give out what the spark plug needs to jump the gap. if theres less resistance, the coil dosnt give out as much voltage for the spark to jump the gap. it just makes it a bit easyer on your coil. also when coils advertise 40,000 volts. thats is max out put, typicaly it reqires about 15,000 volts to start the sparl and 5,000 volts to maintain it

 

[Horsepwraddict]

Was sitting around, looking at plug wires and kept seeing aftermarket wires advertised with 'only' 40ohms per foot and i think im over thinking this.

-If the resistence goes down, there will be less of a load, creating a smaller voltage drop across the wire and allowing more current flow to bridge the plug gap.

-That is the most sensible explanation, but say you add resistence, and a coil that is capable of maintaining the same voltage despite the bigger load, amperage is going to go up and give you a hotter spark.

Could somebody clarify this for me, I thnk im just coming up with excuses why each could be better.

what u need to think off is how much "force" is needed to jump the spark plug gap. wich when under presure due to compresion is alot. coils only give out what the spark plug needs to jump the gap. if theres less resistance, the coil dosnt give out as much voltage for the spark to jump the gap. it just makes it a bit easyer on your coil. also when coils advertise 40,000 volts. thats is max out put, typicaly it reqires about 15,000 volts to start the sparl and 5,000 volts to maintain it

Force being amps. So when resistance increases, wheather it be via high cylinder pressure or hi resistence in the wire the coil is going to compensate for the voltage needed, we'll assume we dont have any extreme conditions and that isn't an issue. If we increase resistance, the coil is going to put out addition voltage accordingly, keeping amperage the same...i think, bear with me im sort of just talking as i think this through.


Am i right in saying that other than putting less of a load on the coil therefore keeping it cooler, there is no performance advantage to 'performance' plug wires themselves but what you are actually seeing is better spark from the coil due to less resistance(and heat, which causes the extra resistence) in the coil? Unlike the spark plugs whos varying voltage needs can be catered to with the coil, the coil only has a limited power supply to work with, so keeping it cool will aid in maintaining efficiency.

I like to think i have a pretty good grasp on electrical stuff, i dont know why i cant get a good understanding of this.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

-If the resistence goes down, there will be less of a load, creating a smaller voltage drop across the wire and allowing more current flow to bridge the plug gap.

-That is the most sensible explanation, but say you add resistence, and a coil that is capable of maintaining the same voltage despite the bigger load, amperage is going to go up and give you a hotter spark.

Could somebody clarify this for me, I thnk im just coming up with excuses why each could be better.

You're on the right track. Less load (resitance)= More current flow (amperage)

The coil doesn't increase the output voltage. The input voltage and the number of turns in the coil determine the induced output votage, just like any transformer. The coil output potental (voltage) is the same all the time, but there is less voltage drop with lower resistance wires, so more voltage gets to the plug gap, causing increased amperage across the gap.

Here's the Ohm's Law pie chart that sorts it all out:

Tommy

 

[Horsepwraddict]

alright, i get it. I was just over complicating it in my head.