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Ignition coil spark/ark contest

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dan

Sun Mar 05 2006, 07:57PM

Registered Member #223 Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 125

Ignition coil spark/ark contest

I noticed the flyback ark contest and I thought maybe I should start an ignition coil ark/spark contest. This contest is for the longest spark obtainable from a single ignition coil of any type. This will be an on going contest with no final closing date. To submit your ignition coil driver simply reply to this thread and provide all details into one or two posts.

Here are the Rules:

1. You may use only 1 automotive ignition coil of any type, manufacturer or model at a time.
2. You may modify said ignition coil anyway you see fit.
3. The ignition coil must not be driven by a higher input voltage (Ex. connecting a TC to the ignition coil.)
4. You must be willing to provide full disclosure of your setup. This includes but not limited to schematics, pictures, Videos (if possible).
5. You must be able to take a picture with a ruler (metric or imperial) behind the spark gap prior to firing and a picture with the actual ark with ruler removed. (This is to avoid surface tracking along the ruler). There must be no evidence of the spark gap being push closer together between the pictures.
6. You may drive the ignition coil anyway you want just as long as this does not conflict with rule 3.
7. Rules may be added or removed at my discretion. However Iâ€™m not going to be overly anal when it comes to the rules.
8. As suggested by Vasil the sparkgap should be made with $0.25(us/canadian) or 1 euro. Other currency my be accepted if the diameter of the coin can be verified.

If you think any of the rules should be changed, removed or added please send me a private message and I will take your comment into consideration. Please I ask that there be no general discussion on the contest here. If someone feels that general discussion is necessary on this contest please consider starting an â€œIgnition coil spark contest discussionâ€ thread.

Once submissions start coming in I will divide them into sub categories based on Driver type and voltage input. (Ex. Tesla coil, Oscillator and single Transistor (ex. Classic 555 and 2n3055), 120v/220v half/full Bridge, etc). They will be put into a list in this original post.

Steve Conner

Sun Mar 05 2006, 08:08PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Good luck everyone! If you're interested, Terry Fritz of the Tesla Coil Mailing List ran a contest like this a couple of years back. I think the longest spark they got was 13", by Terry himself. He removed the iron core, put the coil in an oil bucket with a foot-long oil filled PVC tube over the terminal, and discharged something like a 4uF 1000v cap into the primary through a spark gap. The coil would die after abut ten shots of that. Google for GMHEICSLR....

vasil

Sun Mar 05 2006, 09:35PM

Registered Member #229 Joined: Tue Feb 21 2006, 07:33PM
Location: Romania
Posts: 506

See the notes about GMHEICSLR on Sam Barros site:

http://www.powerlabs.org/gmheicslr.htm

So...what would be the point? To beat Terry's 13.25 inches spark or just see who can produce the longest spark?

dan

Sun Mar 05 2006, 09:42PM

Registered Member #223 Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 125

No this contest is not related to GMHEICSLR in any way.. Terry's contest limited the participant to use only GM HE coils.. This contest is open to any type/manufacter of ignition coil to produce the maxiumum spark possible. The contest has been divided up into sub divisions of each type of driver. Obviously a single transistor/ossilator driver would not stand a chance agiasnt a Tesla coil type driver like Terry's.

May I ask that there be no further disscusion in this thread and only I.C. driver submittions. If you have any questions about the contest send me a private message. If I get the question a lot I will revise the orginal post to include a FAQ..

I.C. Driver Entry:

Type: Single transistor/oscillator circuit.
Voltage Input: 12v form PC PSU.

This is an old ignition coil I got from my Transportation technologies class. (auto)

This is a simple 555 ignition coil driver with horizontal deflection transistors removed from an old monitor.
Ruler picture showing this distance between HV out and ground electrodes. the picture is very fuzzy but I drew in lines to help identify the markings.
Overview of the setup.
Video of Sparks with an electrode spacing of 2 1/8''.
Video of Sparks with an electrode spacing of 2 1/4'' . This seems to be the max and I only get sparks this big if I interrupt the power to the oscillator circuit very quickly. This can be seen by me pushing the wire in/out of the +5v rail on the bread board.
New picture This is a new picture to comply with rule number 8 that was just added. The spark length is 2 inches between 2 canadian quarters.
Simplified schematic

The values for the 555 astable oscillator are:
R1 = 1kohms
R2 = 50kohms
C = 0.1uf
Frequency ~142 hertz with close to 50% duty cycle.

Not bad for 12v input.

vasil

Sun Mar 05 2006, 09:57PM

Registered Member #229 Joined: Tue Feb 21 2006, 07:33PM
Location: Romania
Posts: 506

To eliminate any suspicion, I propose to use a coin (1 euro, 25 US cents), attached to one of the electrodes for the right spark measurement. In this case, the spark can be approximated directly from the movie/picture.

ragnar

Mon Mar 06 2006, 02:05AM

Registered Member #63 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:18AM
Location:
Posts: 1425

You guys will have to make do with a pic. Yes, it used two coils, No, there's no ruler present, but I casually claim at least six inches at the top of that long blue one =)

have fun, guys :P

vasil

Mon Mar 06 2006, 01:59PM

Registered Member #229 Joined: Tue Feb 21 2006, 07:33PM
Location: Romania
Posts: 506

Blackplasma, the old records are made to be beaten.
Lets encourage Dan and the other guys who will participape at this contest!

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