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coil voltage vs home power line voltage

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curley8788

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
i was explaining to my buddy that its not wise to stick a multimeter in the spark plug because it puts out alot of voltage to jump the gap. i showed him how msd says theyre coil puts out 50,000 volts and he said there is no way because power lines in a house are around that much. he refused to believe it could amplify 12 volts to 50,000.

is it possible the 50,000 volts provided by the coil is measured a different way than that of the 50,000 volts of home power lines?
 
#2 ·
Never seen 50000 volts in a residential area. Those are transmission voltages and are usually AC current.
A coil puts out DC voltage abnd I've never seen a multimeter that could read that either.

However if someone has one I would like to get one since it would be a handy tool to check spark plug voltage.;)
 
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#4 ·
The usual way to check ignition voltage is with an oscilloscope that has a high voltage probe. Open circuit voltage of an ignition coil can reach 40,000 for an automotive coil. In actual practice the plugs will fire at far below that, like around 10,000 or less if the plugs are good and the compression pressure is low.
 
#5 ·
curley8788 said:
i was explaining to my buddy that its not wise to stick a multimeter in the spark plug because it puts out alot of voltage to jump the gap.
Click to expand...
Correct. Most of the better meters only have a max voltage rating of 600-1000 volts.
curley8788 said:
i showed him how msd says theyre coil puts out 50,000 volts and he said there is no way because power lines in a house are around that much. he refused to believe it could amplify 12 volts to 50,000.
Click to expand...
Your buddy doesn't know much about electricity. A automotive coil is nothing more than a transformer. Transformers can step up or step down to any voltage. Its not the voltage, but the amperage that can kill you.
 
#10 ·
Home voltage is either 110-120, or 220. An average spark plug will only take 8-10,000 volts to jump the gap. Worn ones can take upwards of 30-40,000 volts. The power lines in most residential areas are about 8800 Volts max. They use transformers to transform voltages up and down, the higher voltages are more efficient to travel over longer distances.
 
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