Spark plug wires length
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,002
Likes: 5
From: No Opti Here Tn
St. Jude Donor '06
Spark plug wires length
Ive been thinking about plug wires lately and I was wondering
Shouldnt all the wires be the same length for consistent firing
It seems like a longer wire would fire fractionally later than a shorter wire
Any engineers out there?
Shouldnt all the wires be the same length for consistent firing
It seems like a longer wire would fire fractionally later than a shorter wire
Any engineers out there?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 5,146
Likes: 3
From: The Motor City
If all wires are good I can't imagine there being that much difference in resistance, based on the max. length of approx.2ft.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 5,621
Likes: 206
From: Orlando FL
Lets not get length, and resistance mixed up. A resistive wire will cause a lower spark power. The length of the wire is a function of time. The longer the wire, the more time it takes for the spark to get there. So resistance is not a function of time.
I wouldn’t waste my time calculating the difference in time travel in one foot of wire. The number will be so small, it will make no difference. Besides, all the same lengths would look like a mess and you might just have things arking to ground which would be worse than anything.
I wouldn’t waste my time calculating the difference in time travel in one foot of wire. The number will be so small, it will make no difference. Besides, all the same lengths would look like a mess and you might just have things arking to ground which would be worse than anything.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 5,621
Likes: 206
From: Orlando FL
Had some spare time so;
For those who just want the answer. In a one foot piece of wire the time differential is about 1 nano second or .000000001 seconds. ( Used one foot for a round number)
Light and electricity travel about 186,000 miles per second (3000 meters/sec). You can do the math with simple algebra by setting up the equation.
Or just read about it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light
For those who just want the answer. In a one foot piece of wire the time differential is about 1 nano second or .000000001 seconds. ( Used one foot for a round number)
Light and electricity travel about 186,000 miles per second (3000 meters/sec). You can do the math with simple algebra by setting up the equation.
Or just read about it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light
Racer
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 325
Likes: 2
From: Chattanooga TN
as stated above, the ammount of time for the current to travel through one, or even ten extra feet of wire is insignificant.
resistance of a wire goes up in direct proportion to its lenght.
a two foot long wire will have roughly twice the resistance of one thats only one ft. in lenght.
however, this again basically irrelavent, since probably more than 98% of total secondary resistance occurs across the plug gap itself, and the rotor to cap terminal.... so unless the wire is defective, the ammount of resistance it offers compared to the air gaps, is very small...
resistance of a wire goes up in direct proportion to its lenght.
a two foot long wire will have roughly twice the resistance of one thats only one ft. in lenght.
however, this again basically irrelavent, since probably more than 98% of total secondary resistance occurs across the plug gap itself, and the rotor to cap terminal.... so unless the wire is defective, the ammount of resistance it offers compared to the air gaps, is very small...
