Pulstar Plugs

[Yelcamino]

Has anyone tried "Pulstar Pulse" plugs yet? The description says:

Pulse plugs are the latest in performance ignition technology. They are essentially a spark plug with an internal pulse circuit which increases peak spark current by up to 20,000 times as compared to a traditional spark plug. Their physical dimensions are the same as your stock spark plug. But this is where the similarity ends. Pulse plugs incorporate a pulse circuit, which stores incoming electrical energy from the ignition system and releases it in a powerful pulse of power. Instead of 50 watts of peak power, typical of a spark plug, pulse plugs deliver up to 1,000,000 watts of peak power. This allows Pulstar Pulse Plugs to burn fuel more efficiently than traditional spark plugs. Pulstar plugs generate a much larger spark than spark plugs and at twice the speed. This faster ignition generates more power you will feel in a livelier throttle response, more horse power to the wheels and increased gas mileage.



Naturally I'm skeptical considering they cost about $25 EACH!

[megaladon6]

you're gonna have some major EMI coming off of those things! plus, how much spark do you need? they might be worth it for race cars.
the price really isn't that bad, considering the price of platinum plugs when they came out, or iridium. i remember ordering plugs for a 96 suburban in about 2001. they were $16 a piece for copper plugs! why? they were only made by ACDelco at the time. i believe they were specific to the vortec heads too.

[barno68]

Sounds like a load. Their explaination sounds like a capcitive discharge, which would imply a time delay... the voltage to the spark plug is the job of the coil and the ingition module, there are good systems out there that run about the $200 these plugs would for a V-8 that would also give muti-spark. JMHO

[GetMore]

I don't inderstand how they can change the wattage of the ignition system. Voltage or amperage I can see, but not wattage.

[megaladon6]

the capacitor stores current thus increasing it. P(watts)=Volt x Amps so increasing the amps increases the power.

[elcamino80]

the capacitor stores current thus increasing it. P(watts)=Volt x Amps so increasing the amps increases the power.

If it would store the current then there would initially be no spark at all... You can't get more watts out of it than the coil delivers. Hell if we could why wouldn't we do it everywhere?

[megaladon6]

coils store voltage, it fires you have high voltage across a gap, arc jump. arc jumps are relatively low amperage. the capacitor (probably in parralel with the power source) will store amperage and fires in a very quick burst at high amperage. since you get a double spark, it increases the power efficiency over time. also, if the branch to the capacitor is before the resistor that cuts the total resistance for the capacitive ckt, increasing the voltage drop at the plug gap. i don't know about a 950,000watt increase, that's probably the peak power output with a major power source.
a lot of it is where you measure the power. total system power won't really change
as barno said it's simply a CD system.

you might actually gain as much power by using plugs without a resistor, you'll just have radio interferience. you'll have that anyway with these plugs.

[GetMore]

Go back to your formula: Watts=Volts times Amps. The coil or capacitor stores a certain amount of power, and when the magnetic field (inductive ignition) on the primary side collapses, or the capacitor discharges (capacitave ignition) it induces current flow in the secondary side of the coil at a higher voltage than the primary side (ratio based on the number of windings).
The voltage output is no greater than required to jump the gap at the plug, and the rest of the current is released in the continuing spark. The bigger the capacitor or more power stored in the coil the longer the spark duration. Short spark or long spark, the wattage is the same. This means that the power supplied to the spark plug may vary in voltage or amperage, but the wattage is equal.

Unless the spark plug has an additional power supply it cannot have an increase in wattage output.

[megaladon6]

with the capacitor in parralel it has a very minimal effect on power on the charge cycle but on discharge it acts as a second power source.

now if you put the capacitors in series, you can get 1.21 gigawatts!

[Samckitt]

Myself and a guy I work with had about an hour discussion about these, along with an electrical guy & we decided amongst ourselves that these are just a bunch of BS.

[Yelcamino]

...these are just a bunch of BS.

That's what I was thinking when I first read about them, which is what prompted me to start this thread.

[Fuelie Fan]

Capacitors store energy, not power. Capacitors can typically discharge much faster than, say, a battery, so their peak power potential is higher.

Conservation of energy must be conserved, so Energy in must be the same as energy out. But, you could achieve this by charging a capacitor very slowly (low power), and then discharging it very quickly (high power) without breaking any laws of physics.

The equations people are trying to apply above are being construed because people are confusing instantaneous with continuous. In a continuous application, like say a DC/DC converter, then yes if you increase voltage you must decrease current because the energy and power are the same because the time scales are the same. Does that make sense?

That being said, these things are a joke. Numerous studies have shown that if your ignition system is strong enough to light the cylinder under whatever your engine's worst case conditions are (IE you have no current misfire issue) then increasing spark energy gains you basically nothing. Typically ignition upgrades run hand in hand with increasing cylinder pressures, of which forced induction is the obvious example.