Electronic Firework Ignition System

[dusty8683]

I want to use a 50-pin cable to ignite e-matches connected to fireworks. The e-matches require about 1 Amp to ignite. The individual conducting wires in the cable are obviously very thin, and thus can't conduct a continuous 1 Amp current. My question though is this: can the very thin conducting wires safely carry 1 Amp of current if just for a fraction of a second? And how does one go about figuring out how much current is safe for short pulses through similar wires?

 

[berkeman]

What you are talking about is similar to how fuse currents are calculated. The amount of current that it takes to blow a fuse depends on the amount of time that the current flows through the fuse. Take a look at a typical fuse datasheet:

http://www.cooperet.com/library/products/1608FF_Specs.PDF

The "Time Current Curve" graph is what you are asking about. I googled time current curve +wire, and got some good-looking hits. I don't have time right now to find the best hit in the list for you, but maybe look around this list to see if it helps:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=time+current+curve++wire