humm... we cannot simply put high dwell time to get the power spark.. each coil has it own dwell time setting. For example, LS2 coil need 5ms signal pulse width from ecu.. 5ms is it saturation point... going above 5ms dwell time will not generate more spark, it will only generate more heat & short it life span. For evo coil i believe it saturation point is about 4ms.. this coil charge time is important whan you play with high RPM.. see below why dwell time is critical at HI RPM :
1000rpm : engine take 60ms to complete 1 revolution
3000rpm : engine take 20ms to complete 1 revolution
8000rpm : engine take 7.5ms to complete 1 revolution
9000rpm : engine take 6.66ms to complete 1 revolution
12000rpm : engine take 5ms to complete 1 revolution
wasted spark = 1 revolution 1 spark
sequention fire = 2 revolutions 1 spark
sequential fire give more time for coil to rest .. example... at 12000rpm wasted spark have only 5ms time.... sequential have 10ms ...
so you must find coil that can full charge below 3.5ms(need 1.5ms dead time.. dwell time + dead time =5ms) to run 12000rpm with wasted spark.... if not your coil dun have enough time to charge & cause weak spark & coil heat up....
so the solution is CDI... CDI only charge coil below 1ms & can give full spark power!! coz it give about 500v in a short time to the coil....
jo1 said is correct ... no need to play with dwell time with CDI... just put 2ms (if have standalone) ... the lower dwell time set, the longger ecu life... coz low dewll = low heat..
ecu --5ms--> cdi --1ms--> coil
ecu --2ms--> cdi --1ms--> coil
so you see above... dwell time to cdi not give any effect.. but cannot lah put so low like 0.5-1ms... must see cdi spec. it happy with how much dwell time...
if dun understand what i try to say... can read here..
Ignition <--old bmw ignition.. need alot dwell time
Megasquirt Sequencer Coils