Thread: Kind of a Drag

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Originally Posted by Good Wrench

Basically the distributor just distributes. The spark chores are done by the ignition box although I guess I need to check ground on that. It's attached to a plastic inner fender well.

Run the box's ground to the battery as well.

Why a clean power source is so important with electronics.
Noise! Like the noise on your radio when it's not tuned on a station, noise in a power source and means frequencies are present. Frequencies are A/C (alternating) signals and they ride on top of D/C currents (basic analog amplification principles). Unfortunately these signals cause all kinds of communication problems with digital microprocessors (and yes most electronic ignitions have microprocessors). These signals or gremlins (as some call them) can confuse the processor into altering the spark out put, fuel ratios (fuel injected) and many other things.

So where do all of these unwanted frequencies come from? Anything connected to the electric supply source, the further away your connections get from the main source the more chance their signals will get into other equipment and these signals can loop through other equipment becoming stronger on the way

How do we prevent gremlins, we can't, at least not completely, however we can minimize them. The most inexpensive way in a D/C circuit is to pull power and ground directly from the main source (battery). We can can also add filters (capacitors) across the power and ground to strap noise (defeat the unwanted frequencies to ground), this is what radio noise suppression is and what you use on your big power amps to boost bass (a subject for another day).

BUT, no amount of filters will make up for bad power sourcing completely. Start out right and it will end right

Sorry for the book....