John good info, THANKS for that post, you're handy to have around. Your picture is something most engineers and electrical and automotive techs are familiar with, even if many non electrical trained gents may NOT be. Over the years I've seen several similar explanations to that you posted by different authors and vendors, but they all basically described the SAME concept. IE its best to operate a coil at the labeled polarity.
For any nay sayers who say it makes no difference, I would ask THEN WHY DO COIL MANUFACTURERS GO TO THE EXPENSE AND BOTHER TO LABEL COILS ?????? If it doesn't matter they wouldn't have to place + and - or BAT and DIST etc. on coils now would they ????
A few years back my late friend Duane Larson, a Nuclear Physicist, performed an experiment in his shop where he measured at what voltage a coil fired, and if the coil was at reverse polarity the voltage had to be a few thousand volts HIGHER !!!! In laymans terms at reverse polarity the coil had to "work harder" and run a tad hotter and it wasn't as efficient as if wired correct.
If anyone here is old enough to understand how vacuum tubes work, they know the reason why there's a heater under the Cathode, is because its easier to emit electrons off a relatively HOTTER (heated Cathode) to a relatively COOLER (Anode) surface, I believe that's referred to as thermionic emission. In an engine the plugs ground strap is much cooler then the tip sitting out there in the hotter combustion chamber.........
THAT BEING SAID HOWEVER as a past used tractor dealer and farmer and having seen and worked on literally hundreds of old truck n tractor coil ignitions (some wired right others not) they can still run at reverse coil polarity and to many non critical casual observers and users its NOT like the difference is night and day. Many might not ever know the difference LOL
Of course iffffffffffff ?? a magneto fires at each (BOTH North and South) rotor magnets passing, one spark is at one polarity and the other is reversed, but yet they still perform.
As an electrical engineer I must respectfully disagree with your opinion "nobody yet has a full understanding of how electricity works"
Hey we sent a man to the moon and are typing on our computers so even if you don't understand how electricity works, I disagree that "NOBODY" understands how it works lol. I will say that when I studied EE the absolute hardest subject I took was "SOLID STATE PHYSICS, ELECRTRONICS OF SOLIDS" That dealt with quantum mechanics and electron and particle theory and complex physics and so called electron and hole theory and even Maxwells Equations DEEP DEEP COMPLEX SUBJECT. BUTttttttt even if some students (MEEEEEE) didn't fully understand all that, OUR PROFESSOR SURE DID. Of course electron theory and solid state physics CAN NOTTTTTTTTTTT BE EXPLAINED HERE, it can take yearssssssssss to grasp such a deep subject so do not ask or even think I can explain it here lol.
You cant prove NOBODY understands how electricity works and I cant prove SOMEBODY understands, so we will just have to respectfully disagree and allow each other our own "opinions" NOT A PROBLEM FOR ME I'm NOT qualified to explain or prove it grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Hope this helps gents understand why its best to operate an ignition coil at its labeled polarity even if it cant be explained here in a few sentences (but neither can brain surgery)
God Bless, Happy Easter
John T Toooooooooo long retired and rusty EE with "opinions" but don't ask me to prove or disprove them, I'm too darn old for that lol
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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