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The Research
Whether you are conducting a fireworks display or launching a high power rocket with a cluster of engines, there is
obviously a limit on the number of electric matches you could fire on one cue of an electrical firing system. There
are many factors that play into this number, a couple of the most important ones are the electric match resistance,
internal firing system resistance, and the order in which you wire them. The ematches can be wired in many different
series parallel combinations, which will each allow different amounts of current to flow through them. The following
graphs will allow you to see how much current is passing through each ematch for these different series parallel
combinations. By comparing this current to the "All Fire Current" given by the manufacturer's data sheets, you can
determine if your electric matches will have enough current to fire when wired in that particular order. This will
allow you to find the maximum number of electric matches you can fire per cue. In order to clarify a "series-parallel"
combination, see the figure below. There are three graphs, each assumes an internal firing system resistance of 4 ohms,
and a different electric match resistance. Each of these values is at the top of each graph. For my complete published
paper on this subject, which comes with the mathematics, experimental test results, and other technical info, goto
www.jpyro.com (Journal of Pyrotechnics) and order issue 20.
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