How Does the Coils Work??

[JerryEllis 10+ year member]

i am just trying to understand how is it that you can have pos and neg touching each other without sparks or anything??? every time i touch pos to neg i get sparks shouldn't this be the same concept?

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

That red/brown on the wire is a shellac/epoxy that keeps the wire from shorting. If you get a high enough voltage on the coil you will exceed the capacitence of the enamel and it will arc right through it and burn a hole in the coil....prett extreme, but it is possible.

 

[JerryEllis 10+ year member]

hmm so this would be like when the coil heats up too much and burns that shellac off that is when i coils unravel and the subwoofer "blows?"

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

hmm so this would be like when the coil heats up too much and burns that shellac off that is when i coils unravel and the subwoofer "blows?"

The glue that holds the coil together is different. The wire comes with the shallac on it (you can buy it online...when you're in science class in school and make an electro-magnet with a nail that's what you use.... also the same wire they sell to wrap transformers with, or in your alternator, or other electric motors....same principal anyway)

When it goes slinky that's the glue that holds the coil together on the former melting. You can just straight out melt the wire of the coil, and if you have a misaligned coil or get a piece of debris in the gap that wears the coating off the coil it will also arc and burn a hole in it.

There's a few different ways a coil can fail from heat/abuse. I've tried quite a few myself //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[JerryEllis 10+ year member]

lol i haven't had a coil blow or give out on me yet. just the leads and suspension.. i guess from were i had them tuned to like 28-30's and playing for like hours at a time lol

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

Good info

 

[JerryEllis 10+ year member]

hmm another question, how does it get a specific ohm reading?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

i am just trying to understand how is it that you can have pos and neg touching each other without sparks or anything??? every time i touch pos to neg i get sparks shouldn't this be the same concept?

When you short a positive wire to ground, you're dealing with DC (direct current).

Amps output AC (alternating current). AC reacts differently than DC when it encounters certain components, like capacitors or inductors (a voice coil is an example of an inductor). That's why when we talk about "ohms" for coils, it's a measure of impedance and not resistance like a DC circuit - the terms aren't interchangeable, and you can't directly measure it with a DMM. What you're taking the measurement of there is the DC resistance of the turns in the coil.

How it actually works is already described better in intro electronics classes.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

hmm another question, how does it get a specific ohm reading?

It has to do with how the coil is wound. If you look on sub specs for like a dual 4 and dual 2 sub, you will notice that they have a different specs, and these are caused by different coil thickness

 

[ahole-ic]

It has to do with how the coil is wound. If you look on sub specs for like a dual 4 and dual 2 sub, you will notice that they have a different specs, and these are caused by different coil thickness

Wire gauge is one thing but coil length is the other. Every conductor has a specific resistance (how it resists DC current) and impedence (how it resists ac current). The thinner a wire, the more resistance it has. Also the longer the wire the more resistance it has.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Wire gauge is one thing but coil length is the other. Every conductor has a specific resistance (how it resists DC current) and impedence (how it resists ac current). The thinner a wire, the more resistance it has. Also the longer the wire the more resistance it has.

Thanks for clearing that up

 

[subzero 5,000+ posts]

there is a huge stupid formula regarding the inductance and capcitance, I/R, I/C... Number of loops time the thickness of the wire,... it is a huge PITA. I am glad I dont have to take those classes again.... or do I? I may have forgoten most of those formulas //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[Audio4ever 10+ year member]

finally got good info from ppl without sum1 sayin do a google search

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

finally got good info from ppl without sum1 sayin do a google search

Now that you mention it I think this is the first time I've ever seen a thread not blow up into an argument

 

[subzero 5,000+ posts]

haha, its that holiday spirit kicking in?