Glow Plug Wattage and Basic Questions

[rocketman128]

Hey Folks,

Trying to make sure my glow plugs are working OK. Have a Kubota L200DT w/ 3 Glow Pugs. Removed and measured the resistance. Each was about 2 ohms. This translates into a power draw of 6 AMPS, and 72Watts each.

Of course if the ciruit resistance is in parallel, the power calculations go up to 20A total draw and 240 Watts.

Do these numbers make sense? I could not find the indivual specs for the glow plugs on the internet.

Tx,

Bob

 

[Mike_C]

That's probably about right. I did a google search and found some other glow plugs using 150 watts each, or 50 Amps for a 4 cylinder engine.

 

[Shimon]

The resistance will change with temperature. But cold you want to see less than 2 ohms but not an open circuit. Most glow plugs of these types will draw about 10 amps each.

The resistance test is pretty good but not a perfect test. Putting an amp clamp around the wire feeding the plug is probably the best test (other than pulling out the plug, applying 12v and touching it to your tongue...if it hurts then it's a good plug).

 

[rocketman128]

I pulled the plugs & hooked them up to a battery charger. All three drew 5 amps, and took about 12 sec to glow red hot. Cleaned connections, buffed al bus bars, coated with anti corrosive, never sieze the threads. Works like new. Thanks for everybodies help.