Energy Coil Test - USA results

[jpt7779]

Since the moderators closed the other energy coil test thread due to some people behaving badly, here are our results from our tests here in the USA.

I purchased the energy coils directly from the president of the company, Val Dick. He has been VERY accessible and helpful with our coil test. I have communicated with him through emails and telephone conversation several times, and shared all data logs collected. We both agreed the first phase was to simply swap out the OEM Denso coils with energy coils with NO other changes and see if there was any noticeable performance changes. The second phase was to change the Ignition Charge Time (dwell) to “take advantage” of the high energy that these coils can produce over OEM. NGK DCPR8E plugs were used with 0.028 – 0.026 gap through out the entire test. The coils we used are the screw on type that require 2 complete revolutions to lock them in place. The other type of energy coil can use a standard type plug cap, which opens the door to many other plugs and gap combinations.

I had to ask good friends to test these coils initially due to me having recent back surgery and unable to test myself for 2 months.

The first test platform was Evan’s (seadoo02xp) 2012 RXP-XTurbo with a Motec M150 ECU. His turbo is capable of 21-22 psi of boost and he has numerous additional sensors to log that most others don’t have. Evan is a professional engine mechanic and understands every bit of this better than most!

The second test platform was Steve’s (Glade Rider) 2012RXP-X Turbo with a Motec M130 ECU. His turbo is capable of 25 psi of boost and has run 89.7 mph in 90*F Florida weather. I have personally ridden this beast several times myself and I am amazed at Steve’s attention to detail and how hard this ski accelerates!

To get right to the point, simply swapping out OEM coils with energy coils on both of the test ski’s produced NO measurable performance changes at all! That means no rpm increase, no acceleration rate change, no change in lambda/AFR, nothing. The spread sheets below detail the data we captured from numerous runs and highlights 2 of the cleanest runs for each of the coils. The start time of the run is once the throttle hit 100% and the stop time is when max speed was obtained for that run. I compiled every channel that I thought could possibly be affected withthis test. Realize these tables are a snap shot in time and not constant numbers through out any run. The entire data log of the run tells a more complete story.

Our Motec ECUs use a table based on ECU battery voltage and Ignition Charge (dwell) time. This is why I chose to log the ECU Voltage to 4 decimal places and all the ignition channels possible to see what is really going on here. The “standard dwell time” our Motec ECUs come with, is as follows: 11.0v=2.0ms, 12.0v=1.50ms, 13.0v=1.50ms, and 14.0v=1.30ms.

Since we found no changes in performance with a simple coil swap in phase one, we set out to test the claimed high energy advantage of the energy coil by increasing the dwell time in phase two. From the advice from Val,the company president and concurrence with our Motec expert Nils Castillio we changed the dwell time to as follows: 11.0v=2.10ms, 12.0v=2.10ms, 13.0v=2.20ms,and 14.0v=2.00ms.

Ski #2 was tested in Phase Two with OEM coils and standard dwell settings, Energy Coils with increased dwell times, and OEM coils with the same increased dwell times.

The spread sheets don’t necessarily show this, but we noticed a slight increase in acceleration, a very slight increase in AFR (example 11.8 to 11.9) and improved fuel economy once we increased the dwell time. We did notice the same performance increase with the stock coils with the same increased dwell times. What we don’t know is how long a stock coil could lastwith these settings!

Val recently told me that they have had even better successwith increasing the dwell times to 2.8-3.2 ms at 16-22 psi of boost.

I have spent many hours going over data logs and compiling this data and I was going to post numerous screen shots of our logs detailing specific performance items, but decided it is just too much information to absorb and sift through. We set out to prove one way or the other without any bias, documented facts. The bottom line is, a simple coil swap will not gain you anything in performance like other bolt on modifications we are accustom to like intake grates, fresh air intakes, higher boost superchargers or turbo chargers, etc.

To get any advantage from these high energy coils requires an ECU and software that can be changed to increase the ignition dwell time, precise Fuel Aim table lambda / AFR adjustments, Efficiency Table adjustments, timing table adjustments and the knowledge to do so in a safe manner! We know for a fact the M130 processor can handle these ignition changes with ease. What we do not know is if a stock ECU that has been re-flashed, has the processing power and speed to handle the increase in dwell time and quicker re-strike times. Experimenting with different plugs and gaps could possibly also be used to enhance performance gains. If you can do all of that, have the right equipment and software, and the patience, you can probably take advantage of this type of coil. Val will be the first person totell you that a complete re-thinking of engine tuning is required to take advantage of these coils.

Much thanks to Val, Evan, Steve, and Nils for their time and expertise in making this a fair evaluation.

JT

		Energy Coil				OEM Coil
Ski # 1	Run # 1		Run # 2		Run # 3		Run # 4
	Start time	Stop time	Start time	Stop time	Start time	Stop time	Start time	Stop time
Log Time Stamp	03.55.200	04.05.855	9.11.060	9.25.837	2.10.015	2.24.942	7.17.235	7.34.810
RPM	9008	9203	9418	9266	9204	9238	8823	92.4
Throttle Position	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Inlet Man Temp *F	72	73	71	74	71	74	65	73
Inlet Man Press kPa	250	246	243	244	233	243	231	245
Boost psi	21.7	20.9	20.5	20.7	19.1	20.6	18.6	20.8
Exhaust Lambda	0.779	0.766	0.835	0.783	0.81	0.781	0.844	0.787
Air Fuel Ratio	11.452	11.152	12.53	11.5	11.938	11.39	12.582	11.567
Fuel Mixture Aim	0.78	0.78	0.78	0.78	0.787	0.78	0.79	0.78
GPS Speed mph	32.2	87	17.6	87.1	15.7	87.2	51.6	86.3
Coolant Temp *F	165	1.66	165	167	169	166	162	168
ECU Voltage	13.3299	13.6614	13.4242	13.5972	13.2787	13.5833	13.2525	13.5647
Engine Cyl1 Knock	21.8	21.8	28.1	42.7	24.6	10.6	33	19.5
Engine Cyl2 Knock	13.8	10	9	25	14.5	19	18	24.5
Engine Cyl3 Knock	42	10.1	3.2	29.3	14.8	25.4	15.2	10.4
Engine Efficiency %	95.192	94.809	94.457	94.666	94.91	94.752	96.344	94.737
Engine Oil Press psi	81.9	91	90.6	70.6	0 sensor fail	0 sensor fail	0 sensor fail	0 sensor fail
Engine Oil Temp *F	158.2	156.9	161.7	159.6	167.6	165.8	168.8	171.1
EGT 1 *F	1370	1604	1326	1604	1327	1605	1488	1600
EGT 2 *F	1363	1630	1323	1628	1317	1623	1491	1615
EGT 3 *F	1444	1705	1418	1697	1414	1685	1537	1693
Fuel Injector DC %	75.2	74	75.3	73.6	71.2	73.3	68.6	72.8
Fuel Volume ul	165.61	159.7	157.79	157.33	151.68	157.21	153.12	156.06
Ignition Charge Time ms	1.441	1.352	1.419	1.407	1.448	1.391	1.465	1.374
Ignition CT Max ms	1.874	1.757	1.845	1.83	1.883	1.808	1.905	1.786
Ignition CT Min ms	1.009	0.946	0.994	0.985	1.014	0.973	1.026	0.962
Ignition CT Restrike ms	0.014	0.014	0.014	0.014	0.014	0.014	0.015	0.014
Igntion Timing	29	29.4	29.7	29.6	30.7	29.7	30.9	29.5
Muffler (WB) Temp	154	172	166	176	153	174	168	177
Water Temp	65.2	65.5	65.2	65.5	65.3	65.6	65.2	65.6
Ski #1 2012 RXP-X 20 psi Turbo Motec M150 ECU
Ski #2 2012 RXP-X 23 psi Turbo Motec M130 ECU

NOTES:
1. Start time of the run is once Throttle Position = 100%
2. Stop time of the run is once max speed of the run is obtained
3. No changes to the ski or tune was changed EXCEPT coil swap out
4. Ski#1 test date 5/16/2015 at 06:05 to 06:43 AM
Comments:
1. Compare Run #2 with energy coil highlighted in Red with Run # 3 with stock OEM coils highlighted in Blue
2. These are the two fastest runs with each of the two types of coils with Energy coil top speed of 87.1 and stock coil 87.2 mph
3. Average knock throughout the run start to finish values are:
	Energy Coil	OEM
Engine Cyl 1 Knock Avg	15.5	15.9
Engine Cyl 2 Knock Avg	16.5	16.6
Engine Cyl 3 Knock Avg	14.9	15.5
Knock Threshold Avg	63	64

		Energy Coil				OEM Coil
Ski # 2	Run # 1		Run # 2		Run # 3		Run # 4
	Start time	Stop time	Start time	Stop time	Start time	Stop time	Start time	Stop time
Log Time Stamp	17.50.712	17.59.178	18.30.298	18.36.259	02.24.386	02.26.717	4.10.085	4.16.648
RPM	7873	9198	9143	9109	9287	9263	9260	9294
Throttle Position	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Inlet Man Temp *F	95	97	96	98	101	101	98	99
Inlet Man Press kPa	184	248	249	249	254	246	246	241
Boost psi	11.8	21.4	21.5	21.4	22.1	21.1	21.1	20.4
Exhaust Lambda	0.829	0.786	0.788	0.785	0.805	0.801	0.807	0.819
Air Fuel Ratio	12.193	11.557	11.584	11.54	11.837	11.767	11.86	12.039
Fuel Mixture Aim	0.823	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.792	0.797	0.797	0.795
GPS Speed mph	49.5	88	75	88.4	83.6	88.9	74.4	88.7
Coolant Temp *F	164	164	163	167	173	174	172	1.71
ECU Voltage	13.6473	13.2223	13.1924	13.3615	13.369	13.5554	13.1161	13.3349
Engine Cyl1 Knock	19.7	17.7	27.1	24.5	18.5	23.6	6	23.1
Engine Cyl2 Knock	9.7	24.6	18.2	18.6	22.2	9.2	23.9	17.6
Engine Cyl3 Knock	12	14.9	4.3	23.1	29.9	9.7	41.2	28.2
Engine Efficiency %	106.52	99.057	100.036	100.596	99.036	98.957	98.964	98.919
EGT 1 *F	inop	inop	inop	inop	inop	inop	inop	inop
EGT 2 *F	1460	1676	1595	1638	1661	1684	1659	1732
EGT 3 *F	1462	1666	1596	1636	1663	1683	1657	1728
Fuel Injector DC %	50.1	74.3	75.1	74.6	76.9	73.7	74.3	72.9
Fuel Volume ul	125.868	164.225	166.63	165.019	168.629	161.725	162.772	159.232
Ignition Charge Time ms	2.066	2.112	2.188	2.091	1.453	1.386	1.5	1.41
Ignition CT Max ms	2.686	2.746	2.845	2.718	1.889	1.801	1.95	1.833
Ignition CT Min ms	1.446	1.479	1.532	1.463	1.017	0.97	1.05	0.987
Ignition CT Restrike ms	0.021	0.021	0.022	0.021	0.015	0.014	0.015	0.14
Igntion Timing	30.3	29	29	29	29	29	29	29
Ski #1 2012 RXP-X 20 psi Turbo Motec M150 ECU
Ski #2 2012 RXP-X 23 psi Turbo Motec M130 ECU

NOTES:
1. Start time of the run is once Throttle Position = 100%
2. Stop time of the run is once max speed of the run is obtained
Comments Ski # 2
1. Ski#2 OEM coils with standard Motec dwell times. Energy Coils use increased dwell times.
2. Ski#2 test date 7/1/2015 at 8:09 to 9:30 PM 89*F air temp!
3. EGT temp sensor #1 is inoperative

[jpt7779]

Well the spread sheets did NOT format correctly so here it is in a pdf:

Energy Coil Test-Final.pdf

[Turbo Retro]

very, very informative post.
thanks to all those involved for the testing.

[seadoo02xp]

There we have it!! It's not a gain and it's not a loss.
The one positive thing about these coils is the way the lock onto the spark plug . I could see this being needed in closed course racing or heavy chop.

Other than that, we found no benefit over oem as far as top speed , rpm or acceleration is concerned . These tests were done starting with the oem coils. Then repeated with the energy coils and then repeated a third time back with the oem coils .

Thank you JT for buying these for us all to play with!

[1tommygunner1927]

Well done JT!

[hotbird]

Very informative post! Well worth the wait!! Thanks!!

[Water4fire]

Thank you and we'll done

[whittlebeast]

Can you post one of the DL files somewhere. I would love to see one. Good work.

Just for the FYI, I tend to test at idle, bucket up and start the timer at the throttle stab. I get one time to 7000 rpm. I take a second time at where the rpm hooks up on the pum and note the rpm at hookup. I also grab on the gps where the ski hits 20 to where it hits 60. At least I can get repeatable results this way.

Andy

[jpt7779]

Andy, I'll be more than happy to let you test them yourself.

[Steve-m31164]

Well done JT and everyone involved.