ENERGY AMPLIFICATION

[Magluvin]

Well maybe on your car coil it is but all the ones i have seen and bought and used the condenser is directly across the primary coil right on the top of the ignition coil and bolted to it's low voltage terminals.  There is also one in the distributor. It is there to absorb the spikes, depending on how the ignition is wired depends on how the condenser is placed. The object of it is to absorb the spikes and stop arcing in the points but when used in experiments if it is placed directly across the primary the coils performance is improved.

Some ignition coils have the LV end of the secondary connected to the primary positive and some have it connected to the primary negative, some cars can also have a positive ground from what I've been told. And some a negative ground.

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080803011923AAKIebG

In this distributor here the condenser in the distributor can be seen poking out from behind the right side of the rotor..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/holden-253-308-distributor-/300826423233?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item460aa6efc1#ht_500wt_1414

..

Cheers

   That is another cap.   The one Im talking about is under the distributor cap across the points.

I do Corvette restorations. Like a 65 Vette, they have both caps, in the dist and one connected to the + of the coil and the other end to ground on the motor(coil mounting strap). So being the points are not always closed, the external cap in only across the primary part time, and when the points are closed.
The assembly manual and schematics state the cap is for noise suppression. They have 3 more caps under the dash, one on the brake switch (stop lamps), one on the amp meter and another to the radio power and gnd. All for noise suppression.

Ive seen no significant difference if any with or without the external caps on the coil. But that one in the distributor across the points, if that is missing or bad, the car wont even start in most cases.

This guy Rich, no longer working for us, was bench testing coils with a metered spark gap. He asked me after a bit, "can all these coils be bad?"  I looked at what he was doing. Just energizing the primary with a battery. The spark from most of the coils was less than or about 1/4 in. Thin and weak. Then I showed him to put a cap across his open connections, and bam, inch to 2 inch sparks. Thick and rich. 

All the coils were good. 

Mags

[Magluvin]

By the way. There is a lot of mixed info out there on this stuff. Investigating is the best way to see what is true or not.
Some info says that the distributor cap is just to protect the contacts of the points. Yes it does. But they dont always tell you what the cap also does. 
I dont know why that is.


Mags

[Farmhand]

Yes you are correct with a bad condenser in the distributor the engine won't run.
My point being that a the spike plays no real part in the voltage produced by the secondary because it is absorbed by the condenser/s.

I've been messing with points ignitions since I got my first motor bike at 13 years old, by 15 and 1/2 I was racing cars in the speedway, which over here is all dirt track stuff.
I did most of the work myself, changing engines, tuning, locking diffs with a welder  changing entire front ends ect.  I owned about 5 cars and a motorcycle when i was 15 years old paid for with my own earned money too. However I pay for it now with pain, already two discs removed from my neck and two more ruptured soon after the operation. But boy oh boy it sure was fun.

Cheers

[forest]

Counter emf is the source of lenz law I believe ? When primary is opened there is no counter emf ? I have been told that transfer from primary to secondary of transformer is done via magnetic field change, right ?
This magnetic field change induce current in secondary. Does it also induce current in primary ? Hmm...maybe, but I see it as overcomplication. Why do not assume just that original current in primary when stopped is converted into oscillations of primary coil RCL circuit and tries to escape as heat or flyback spike or RF transmission or ground current ? Anyway my original point is that if energy from primary would be transfered via magnetic field into current of secondary as is stated in many descriptions of transformer action then we should not have ANY signs of energy left in primary circuit !!!! Simple as that !

[Farmhand]

Counter emf is the source of lenz law I believe ? When primary is opened there is no counter emf ? I have been told that transfer from primary to secondary of transformer is done via magnetic field change, right ?
This magnetic field change induce current in secondary. Does it also induce current in primary ? Hmm...maybe, but I see it as overcomplication. Why do not assume just that original current in primary when stopped is converted into oscillations of primary coil RCL circuit and tries to escape as heat or flyback spike or RF transmission or ground current ? Anyway my original point is that if energy from primary would be transfered via magnetic field into current of secondary as is stated in many descriptions of transformer action then we should not have ANY signs of energy left in primary circuit !!!! Simple as that !

Not true, it depends on several factors, coupling, capacitance, load ect.

For there to be no sign of any energy in the primary the secondary would need to be shorted and the off time would need to be long enough for the primary to discharge all of
it's field energy and for that energy to be completely transferred to the secondary and dissipated somehow.

Cheers