Capacitor discharge ignition pressure inside the cylinder. Capacitor discharge ignition Capacitor discharge ignition (CDI) or thyristor ignition is a type of automotive electronic ignition system which is widely used in outboard motors, motorcycles, lawn mowers, chainsaws, small engines, turbine-powered aircraft, and some cars. It was originally developed to overcome the long charging times associated with high inductance coils used in inductive discharge ignition (IDI) systems, making the ignition system more suitable for high engine speeds (for small engines, racing engines and rotary engines). The capacitive-discharge ignition uses capacitor discharge current to the coil to fire the spark plugs. The history of the capacitor
Dual ignition single point of failure in mechanical terms, that could cause both ignition systems to cease working. A simple form of partial dual ignition on some amateur-built aircraft uses a single spark plug, but duplicates the coil and pick-up for better redundancy than traditional single ignition. A further form of partial dual ignition (such as on the Honda VT500) is for each cylinder to have a single HT coil which sends the current to one plug and completes the circuit via the second plug, rather than via the earth. This system requires a voltage sufficient to jump both plug gaps, but