Lumberjackchuck
Full Access Member
I think generally electromechanical equipment like your relays and ignition coils will be fine unless it is a VERY large EMP.Modern vehicles are actually better shielded than old vehicles. Electronic shielding started being developed way back in the 60s with the developed of EFI, as they discovered that the injectors could missfire from interference caused by the ignition coil. Early EFI wasnt well shielded, but they did incorporate capacitors and grounding to absorb the static.
The electronic devices in our IDIs are actually not shielded at all and are far more susceptible to interference from an EMP than any new vehicle. All of the relays in our trucks would be cooked, that means no starter relay, no glowplug relay, no fuel shutoff solenoid, no automatic transmission. You could get around most of this, except for the FSS, im not sure how one could bypass that being locked closed, maybe open it up and manually disengage it? Then you wouldnt be able to shut the truck off without opening it up again.
Modern electronics on the other hand are required to be enclosed in electronic shielding with grounding circuits and capacitor systems to prevent outside interference from radio waves, spark plugs, ignition coils, etc.
Electronic equipment that operates on low voltages like integrated circuits and microchips, where there is hardly any insulation because everything is so compact, are much more susceptible to EMP. Also, a much more vast array of inductors and capacitors gives a wider range of resonant frequencies that the RF from the EMP can affect. And these things aren’t in perfect faraday cages, even though they have some shielding to prevent RF interference.
The IDI’s should be good to go.