The Benefits of High Output Ignition Coils

A high-performance ignition coil enhances engine performance. It allows for a wider spark plug gap, which leads to a more robust first flame kernel at the beginning of combustion, resulting in increased voltage. There is a genuine enhancement in engine torque as an outcome of this. Another benefit of having greater power available is that it gets there quicker, allowing less time for voltage diversion via the inevitable carbon deposits on spark plugs. Most importantly, the electrical stream is pushed more forcefully and more quickly to the plug because of the higher voltage potential. With more voltage available, there is more reserve power for non-standard circumstances such as riding uphill on a hot day with low tire pressure and a 20mph headwind.

The voltage required to bridge the gap in the plug is not constant; it fluctuates and is nowhere near the ignition coil's voltage output potential. For example, a 60,000-volt ignition coil will only fire its spark plug at 60,000 volts when there is a high demand (load), higher rpm, and cylinder pressure, but at idle and low demand, it will fire at 7,000-20,000 volts. How is this possible, and why is there an additional charge? When a spark plug is ready to ignite, the air within its space is not conductive and must be made conductive. It is temporarily rendered conductive, a process known as "ionization," which has to do with the electrical charge of atoms. It essentially means the air is ready to conduct electricity. Spark plugs’ voltages heat and stimulate the air molecules to the point where voltage can travel through the agitated air to jump the plug's gap.