I've seen a few posts on here about glow plug operating current, testing, etc. I decided to run a few tests on a new set of glow plugs so that the information would be available for everyone. I have a B6000, for reference.
During glow-plug warm up, the switch sends the current through the indicator coil first, and then to the glow plugs. The indicator coil is intended to bump the voltage for the glow plugs down to ~10.5V. The reason for this is that the glow plugs will actually see ~10.5V when starting the engine because of the large draw from the starter, even though the switch during starting sends the battery power straight to the glow plugs.
I hooked up brand new glow plugs (NGK Y107-1) to my constant-voltage power source that displays output current. While they were at full temp (red hot), they were consuming 9.65 amps each when powered with 10.5V. So, for those of you trying to size wire for your project, you can assume 10A per plug, or about 100w.
Hope this helps someone...
During glow-plug warm up, the switch sends the current through the indicator coil first, and then to the glow plugs. The indicator coil is intended to bump the voltage for the glow plugs down to ~10.5V. The reason for this is that the glow plugs will actually see ~10.5V when starting the engine because of the large draw from the starter, even though the switch during starting sends the battery power straight to the glow plugs.
I hooked up brand new glow plugs (NGK Y107-1) to my constant-voltage power source that displays output current. While they were at full temp (red hot), they were consuming 9.65 amps each when powered with 10.5V. So, for those of you trying to size wire for your project, you can assume 10A per plug, or about 100w.
Hope this helps someone...