1st Generation Specific (1979-1985) 1979-1985 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections

how do igniters work?

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Old 07-07-03, 11:17 AM
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how do igniters work?

how do the igniters work on the fb electronic dizzy?
Old 07-07-03, 02:18 PM
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Find a TII.
Old 07-07-03, 11:44 PM
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The ignitor is a transistor that turns a coil on and off quickly (kettering). It is controlled by the pickup which sends it a pulse whenever a reluctor tip passes by it.
Old 07-08-03, 12:15 AM
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here a prior post from this dude.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=202202


Its hard to tell if he is for real OR just trying to be ?????
what a loser.


Old 07-08-03, 04:10 AM
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well it's realy easy to think of the whole ignition system as a circuit. you have power. lets say for the sake of making it easy to understand and universal. you get power from battery. run it to the coil. run the power to the signal pick up in the crank angle sensor(this is the distributor with ouit the distribution). the signal pick up has 2 contacts on it. one right above the other. run the power from the coil to one contact and then run the negative to the other contact. run that negative to the coil. now you have a circuit with a switch in it. the circuit as is is an open circuit meaning it isn't complete so electricity can't flow. so to make the coil fire then stop and repeat this. on the shaft of the crank angle sensor you have a thing like looks like a ninja star. this star has 4 points on it. the signal pick up is the switch. when a point on the ninja star runs by the signal pick up is touches both contacts at the same time. this closes the circuit and lets electricity flow. once the point passes the signal pick up, it opens the circuit causing the electricity to flow. this repeats.

as in the case of a TII and all other rx'7. there is a trailing coil and leading coil. so there is a trail signal pick up and leading signal pick up. both operate the same way. in the case of first gens with plug fires is determined by the rotor and distributor.
Old 07-08-03, 10:47 AM
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13B4port, so the igniter is just a big transistor? the haynes manual called it a "brain box" so i thought there might be some more advanced circuitry. also, i thought the electronic dizzys didnt have contacts that touched each other....im not a ignition expert but it would make sense to me to just have a coil or magnet go past the pickup coil that way no parts touch each other and it would last a long time.....maybe i just misread your post, correct me if im wrong.

and wackyracer you can go **** yourself, im just trying to learn, is there something wrong with that? and god forbid i didnt know what a TII was, is that supposed to be implanted in your brain when your born along with how igniters work?
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Old 07-08-03, 04:06 PM
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then start using search....use your brain...its ok to be a nooobie but being lazy to do research is something else. yo mama aint here to do things for you.

dumb ***.

Last edited by Siraniko; 07-08-03 at 04:09 PM.
Old 07-08-03, 04:59 PM
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The voltage spike produced by the action of the rotor passing through the magnetic field in the distributor is too small to trigger the coil(s) unless it is amplified by the ignitor, which is also properly referred to as an amplifier. That's about it, there's no complex engine control circuitry inside. Jeff 20B had it right. Oh, and there is no contact between the parts of the pickup in the distributor.

Wackyracer, you seem to want to start a lot of trouble with people, yet I don't see you adding any pearls of wisdom, just a lot of condemnation. How does your nit-picking people's posts make this a better forum? This is thrice now in the last couple of days that I've seen you being a total jerk to people. You getting enough fiber? Maybe YO MAMA can bake you some bran muffins, I don't know...
Old 07-08-03, 05:12 PM
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your right on that wankel...i just noticed that. I cant tell you much except I have been annoyed with guys who dont wanna spend time doing research. they continued to disregard the warning to do search prior to posting a questions. its using too much bandwidth and most of the time, we can even get it. I can contribute but I just refused since majority of the questions have been asked before.

But hey, thanks for bringing it up.

Last edited by Siraniko; 07-08-03 at 05:15 PM.
Old 07-08-03, 05:17 PM
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Ironically enough, while people keep saying that not searching wastes bandwidth, that's not the case.

Searching actually consumes more bandwidth because of the number of pages that must go down the pipe to find what you're looking for (unless you get lucky)

Posting questions that have easy answers does, however, consume hard drive space and contribute to general clutter in the forum.

So, wackyracer, though I also get annoyed with common questions (despite that fact that I'm still very much a 'noob'), I think we can all be a little cooler about it.


Just my .02
Old 07-08-03, 05:42 PM
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Do you promise to do a search before posting?
Old 07-08-03, 05:46 PM
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I promise!
Old 07-08-03, 05:50 PM
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Old 07-08-03, 08:15 PM
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I always wondered how those igniters worked - thanks guys!

Ray
Old 07-08-03, 08:53 PM
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Originally posted by enigma32

Searching actually consumes more bandwidth because of the number of pages that must go down the pipe to find what you're looking for (unless you get lucky)

and the number of pages it must go down is so large because of...? take it from here wacky.
Old 07-08-03, 09:03 PM
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and????
theres still no excuse for doing search!!!! At least I dont post BS.
Old 07-08-03, 09:19 PM
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arg, because of people nto doing searches and posting alot of the saem stuff over and over again. i wonder in total just ho wmany times even that stupid purple custom kit has vbeen posted were the heck are the mods to taek some any control of this stuff plz.
Old 07-08-03, 09:39 PM
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ok first off all, wackyracer, i did do a search, i found alot of things about checking igniters, buying ignitors, igniter problems, but nothing about how they actually work. Everyone was a newbie at some point, and the only way out of it is to ask queations and experiment.

hey wankelguy, so the igniter is just a little amp, so the pulse turns on the transistor creates a more powerful pulse from the battery? then that pulse triggers the coil. i read a post where some guys got working igniters for a few bucks from a junk yard when they are a few hundred to buy new. thats awesome, im gonna go look for some
Old 07-08-03, 09:51 PM
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Thanks to everyone, I didn't know how they worked either..learn something new every day.

That IS what the forum's for, after all..
Old 07-08-03, 10:50 PM
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Originally posted by The_7
hey wankelguy, so the igniter is just a little amp, so the pulse turns on the transistor creates a more powerful pulse from the battery? then that pulse triggers the coil. i read a post where some guys got working igniters for a few bucks from a junk yard when they are a few hundred to buy new. thats awesome, im gonna go look for some
No, Wankelguy's somewhat off base on this one.

This is how it works... An ignition coil consists of a primary winding and a secondary winding. When 12V is fed into the primary winding it creates a magnetic field. When the circuit is switched off rapidly it causes the magnetic field to collapse which induces a voltage into the secondary winding. Because the secondary winding has far more turns the voltage is much greater and that's what fires the spark plugs.

The switching on and off of the circuit is done by the ignitor and pickup. Basically, current flows through the + terminal to the primary winding, out through the - terminal and completes it's current path to ground through the ignitor. The ignitor is told when to turn on and off by the reluctor and pickup.

There is no amplification or anything like that. The ignitor/transistor simply acts as a switch on the negative side of the coil that rapidly turns the circuit on and off.

Last edited by REVHED; 07-08-03 at 11:10 PM.
Old 07-08-03, 11:08 PM
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oh ok. i get it now. thanks to all
Old 07-08-03, 11:27 PM
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ahh that makes alot more sence thanks "now i know, and knowing is half the battle)
Old 07-09-03, 01:08 AM
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Originally posted by The_7
13B4port, so the igniter is just a big transistor? the haynes manual called it a "brain box" so i thought there might be some more advanced circuitry. also, i thought the electronic dizzys didnt have contacts that touched each other....im not a ignition expert but it would make sense to me to just have a coil or magnet go past the pickup coil that way no parts touch each other and it would last a long time.....maybe i just misread your post, correct me if im wrong.

and wackyracer you can go **** yourself, im just trying to learn, is there something wrong with that? and god forbid i didnt know what a TII was, is that supposed to be implanted in your brain when your born along with how igniters work?
my bad. i should have read you're post more carefully. i told you how my 13b in my 84 gsl-se works. and how other cars with distributors work.

again sry, plz don't pumel and dis-own me.
Old 07-09-03, 04:28 PM
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Originally posted by REVHED
No, Wankelguy's somewhat off base on this one.

There is no amplification or anything like that.
Look up "DC Amplifier".

But yes, I am frequently "off base", nyuk nyuk.

Wackyracer, my regards to you for hearing me out without taking offense.
Old 07-09-03, 05:59 PM
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Originally posted by Wankelguy

Wackyracer, my regards to you for hearing me out without taking offense.
NP. Consider all my input as "constructive criticsm".


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