Re: Pertronix Ignitor Inside Info.

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

When the truth serum kicked in, Darrel Kline <darrelk@domain.elided>
blurted out...

>it
>sounds like the Ignitor is nothing more then a switch. That it's only
>function is to open and close the circuit. I haven't researched the
>Ignitor, but it is a switch *and* an amplifier, correct?

Well... yes... it is essentially an electronic switch.  It does more than
merely ground the coil though.  As I understood the engineer at Pertronix, it
switches the coil ground on and off in a very specific manner in order to
produce the best secondary ignition system voltage spike characteristic.. or
the best that Pertronix thinks it should be.  Beyond that, I have no further
understanding of how it works.  You're welcome to call Pertronix and ask to
speak to one of their design engineers.  Then maybe you can be so kind as to
explain it in terms the rest of us can grasp?

>I'm still thinking that the Ignitor would put out something more then the
>battery voltage of a breaker-point system. Again, it does do more then
>simply open and close the circuit? I would guess that the Ignitor is
>basically a power transistor, in which case we can't use the Ohm's
>Law/series circuit formula to solve for the output current.

I guess I don't understand what you mean by "put out" in referring to the
Ignitor.  I mean, the voltage is a product of the battery or alternator which
has passed through the coil's primary windings and then into the Ignitor.  The
Ignitor and similar electronic ignition systems (like the Holley gold box I
suppose) simply ground out the coil's primary windings in a controlled
fashion.  They don't amplify the primary coil current do they?  Or maybe they
do?  I assumed the resistance of the coil is what controlled how much current
gets through.  I mean, if the resistance is .5 Ohms, then you'll get a heck of
a lot more current than if the reactance was say 10 Ohms.  Like any switch,
electronic, mercury, mechanical or otherwise, it can only handle so much
current.  Thus the restriction on the coil resistance by Pertronix.

Are you saying that you would expect the Ignitor to amplify the voltage prior
to it passing through the coil?  I realize that current flows from negative to
positive, so I suppose what I think I hear you saying makes sense.  The
Pertronix Engineer did say something about a typical breaker-point ignition
system wave form peaks at maybe 200 volts.  He said in comparison, the Ignitor
wave form peaks at around 400 volts.  I don't understand what this means,
because how could breaker-points yield higher voltage?  Wait... could this be
a function of the condenser releasing stored voltage?

Now you have me really intrigued.  As you can tell, I know just enough about
electronics and electricity to confuse myself.  Please expound on what you
know about this.

Take care,

John
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