Following on from a comment in the Coil Dwell thread, I have some questions on spark duration.

The main question I have is, is spark duration a function of the spark plug, the coils or the ECU?

I am guessing its the ECU. Depending on the answer I have a bunch of other questions.

Cheers

Andrew

Coils. The collapse of the field only takes a few microseconds and is not sustainable.

Awesome...thanks :) So now I want to find out if there is published data (like this http://www.dtec.net.au/Tech%20Articles/Ignition%20Coil%20Energy%20Testing.pdf) on spark durations and energy across different coils.

Auzoom, there should be plenty of data related to high voltage coils (not just auto specific) all over the net. But if you're trying to find data on a specific group of automotive coils, then it might be a bit difficult. Many manufacturers of aftermarket units specify their output energy and duration.

I have only managed to find a small amount of data from some independent tests like I posted up. I am an electronics dunce so while I would love to try the tests in that link I would probably electrocute myself!