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ignition timing light

C

chibitul

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I am thinking about building an ignition timing light: an inductive
pick-up timing (strobe) light. I could use an LED or even a small LASER
diode if necessary. Is there a web site that shows a diagram or some
starting points? yeah, I know, I could buy one on eBay or at WalMart,
but where is the fun then??? BTW: this is used to adjust the ignition
on a car.
 
S

St. John Smythe

Jan 1, 1970
0
chibitul said:
BTW: this is used to adjust the ignition
on a car.

At night, presumably. There's a reason the commercial lights use
discharge tubes.
 
C

chibitul

Jan 1, 1970
0
At night is fine. As I said, I also have a LASER diode available. That
think is only a few mW, but it is very well colimated. Daylight, you
see it 10-20 meters away, maybe more.
 
S

St. John Smythe

Jan 1, 1970
0
chibitul said:
At night is fine. As I said, I also have a LASER diode available. That
think is only a few mW, but it is very well colimated. Daylight, you
see it 10-20 meters away, maybe more.

Yes, but the spot is minuscule. A timing light needs enough spread to
illuminate the timing marks, numbers and index simultaneously.
 
Z

Zak

Jan 1, 1970
0
chibitul said:
At night is fine. As I said, I also have a LASER diode available. That
think is only a few mW, but it is very well colimated. Daylight, you
see it 10-20 meters away, maybe more.

And you 'flash' it on for a fraction of the time - the output is reduced
to that fraction.

Photo flash discharge tubes and power are cheaply gotten from a
disposable camera. Replace the cap by something much smaller.

Classic timing guns used a pickup clamp on a spark plug cable
(capacitive coupling), and a long spark plug cable that just connected
to the trigger terminal on the flash tube.

Simple, huh? But if you can't reach the coil output and need to work
from the trigger signal, it is still not too complicated.


Thomas
 
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