lowaggie

iTrader: (2)

Thanks usmc. I know in my lab we have all kinds of capcitors, hell the cables that run across the highway are capacitors that measure how many cars are driving over them during a certain time period by measuring the change in capacitance when the cars drive over them. As for the plug wires, I doubt they do anything at all for performance, but I think that the basic idea for em shielding is all that they really accomplish. Maybe in a very very race oriented motor where any little disturbance could make a big difference, but not in our motors.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

any new info?

joecar

What lowaggie said...

a capacitor is basically a pair of conductors separated by an insulator;
a capacitor blocks DC signals and passes AC/pulse signals between the plates;
a capacitor couples the plates via the electric field between the plates (for AC/pulses only).


Now, after viewing the pics posted above, these are my $0.02 comments:

there are TWO separate things going on here...

the "capacitor" would leak some of the ignition pulse to ground via electric field coupling (i.e. the ignition pulse would lose some energy);

the tightly wound spiral conductor leaks very little magnetic field... the magnetic field pretty much cancels out any at appreciable distances external to the wire (compared to the diameter of the spiral), as long as the spiral is wound very tightly (i.e. a few inches compared to 1/16th inch)... (this is because the magnetic field created by current in a spiral is balanced by an opposite magnetic field on the other side of the spiral); the almost zero external magnetic field means almost zero energy is lost via magnetic field coupling (electromagnetic induction) to surrounding conductive objects.

so my from my understanding, that wire loses some energy via capacitive coupling, but loses almost zero energy via inductive coupling; you may be able to measure this using some form of electroscope (measures electric field);

other than that, I can't see what the purpose of the "capacitor" is.

$0.02

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

but it is sold as being a capacitor that "adds" to the voltage output of the spark........no?.......like those "caps" that people put on their stereos to boost output

chelsea

I still need to learn.

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

NO. We're still waiting for someone to say they've done a back-to-back test with regular wires to tell us if the increase power.

Element

iTrader: (5)

Capacitors in a car audio system are absolutely worthless and do nothing but create additional strain on the charging system. Theoretically they're great for transients, but in reality, they drain almost instantly.

I'm thinking these wires are the same thing. RF guy looked at the picture, laughed, and said "Marketing".

/shrug

joecar

A signal can't be boosted without an active component like an amplifier... a capacitor is a passive component.

+1