radu_rd2

An ad in a magazine caught my eye: it was for better spark plugs, called pulse plugs. They store some of the energy and make a spark that's shorter in duration, but more powerful. The website is here:
http://www.pulstarplug.com/

A relevant article: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006...plug_demo.html

The claims sound scam-ish, but some people attest to them, and I didn't find any negative reviews. They're about 25$ each, so that's pretty expensive. If you would get half the performance gains the article above talks about, it would be worth it tho.

Found a dyno test on a forum: http://www.customtacos.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98382
Another guy that tested it: http://forum.mazda6club.com/index.php?show...p;#entry1116213
(see this one also: http://forum.mazda6club.com/index.php?show...p;#entry1121213 )

So whatcha think?

Radu

DTN

I wouldn't put much faith into them until I see actual numbers where someone says "I bought 2 sets of spark plugs, denzos and these phony capacitor spark plugs"...


Which pretty much non-validates this test.

This is an old concept. Nothing new about it. They did that with the capacitor wires too where each wire had to be grounded. I still don't trust them and I wouldn't run them unless they were proven. No gains to be found out of having a capacitor in your plug wire, why would there be a gain in having the capacitor in the spark plug?

on the website they said:
which is a damn lie. A capacitor makes it less accurate. the cap will not fully charge and discharge each time. This means that there could be a full capacitor for the next spark, or an empty capacitor. It takes a split second to fill a capacitor


As for the video on the how they work page, http://www.pulstarplug.com/howtheywork.html , they forgot to mention that the spark plug will fire instantly, where as the pulse plug has to either have ignition advanced, or it will be firing later then the spark plug.

The idea behind adding a capacitor to a spark gap is a sound one, but it does require manufacturer cooperation. A better Idea would be to have a capacitor-on-coil system controlled by a silicone relay. The ignition system is a inductive system. If you add capacitance, it changes it.

I'm going to come out with a system that has light bulbs on top of each spark plug. Because a "lighter system" is better then a heavier system and it = better fuel economy, and better fuel economy = more power.

I hate the fact that people are making product targeting those who are trying to save money on gas.

Another thing, in the "EPA tests" they did not specify which plug, they just said "spark plug" so it could have been a carbon plug and Irridium or platinum could be better... Who knows? There's no hard evidence.

njsharkracer

Looks good on paper, but my gut feeling is it's as useful as those stupid tornado intake add-ons. I'd save your money and find something more useful to buy for your tib.

radu_rd2

I think it's more complicated than a simple capacitor. Not saying it works, but there's no way of knowing exactly what it does so you don't know it's not accurate or whatever. Plus there are a lot of factors that affect whether something works or not in practice. Really, all I care is if someone who I trust tests it out and it makes a difference. The guy with the dyno had a 5hp increase, that's pretty good, even if the other plugs weren't new.. I don't know..

Radu

DTN

^^ It's not more complicated then a simple capacitor. That's all there is. Read the review.

This picture shows a spark plug and the "obviously superior" pulse plug cut away. You can tell it's obviously superior because of the addition of chrome and the mysterious green/red part, which would be a capacitor.



Bad spark plugs can loose 30 horsepower easily depending on how much they misfire and edge fire. Also, improper spark gap can cause 30 HP to be lost due to weak/small spark. Those dyno results are total bullshit because he did not use new plugs on the pulse plugs. In fact, he stated they were "old plugs".

Seriously, if it were as easy as adding a capacitor, don't you think Hyundai would be using those capacitor spark plug wires or, BMW maybe?


Another thing.. the equivilant of 1,000,000W.... ANOTHER DAMN LIE.. Those guys are nothing but scam artists who are good at marketing.

I will now explain why 1,000,000W is not possible.

1. An amp is a measure of the ammount of electrons which cross any given point of a wire per second.
2. The tiburon has a 90A alternator
3. The tiburon can run at 14.6V
4. A power using device like a spark coil is not capable of putting out any more power then what goes in. Power in > power out
5. Watts = Volts X Amps
6. 1,000,000Watts / 14.6Volts = 68493Amps
7. Theres 4 spark plugs the car
8. 4 spark plugs X 68493 Amps = 273972A
9. 4 1,000,000 watt spark plugs demands 3,044 times the ammount of power our alternators make.


Theres a reason spark plugs are not rated in Watts of power... freakin' scam artists.

SOCKS_old

i call BS on the whole concept of those pieces of junk... 5hp + on a dyno from some shatty spark plugs.. bull... SHIT..

they should have a REAL cross section of the plug, not some animated drawing.. you can add these to your fuel magnets, tornados, and e-chargers.

radu_rd2

You're both probably right..




DTN, I agree the 1MW thing is bullshit, but your argument is not good either (and didn't expect this kind of mistake from you tongue.gif). Your calculating the power consumption as if they are continuously releasing 1MW of power (which I'm sure is comparable to what a freakin powerplant continuously produces).
Despite that my physics knowledge is very limited, let me prove to you that in theory, what they claim can be achieved (although it's probably still bullshit):

1. They claim the release takes 2 bilionths of a second. That's 10^6 W * 2 seconds * 10^-9 = 0.002 Joules of energy used up at each spark
2. at 10000RPM, wasted spark mode = 4 sparks per rotation (I think), 40000 sparks / second takes power: 40000 sparks / second * 0.002 Joules = 80 Joules / second = 80 Watts
3. So if the capacitors can ensure that the current draw is perfectly constant, you will draw from the battery 80Watts / 14.6 Volts = 5.5 Amps
4. 5.5 Amps = 16 times smaller than the current the alternator can make tongue.gif






Found this thread in which they show 0 gains (although they did make some difference to the AFR):
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showpost.p...mp;postcount=75
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showpost.p...mp;postcount=82

I guess that settles it.. Sorry for wasting your time with these magic plugs smile.gif

DTN

^^ You measure output like that in coloumbs, not watts. You cannot claim a watt for 1/1,000,000,000 of a second. You have to use coloumbs. It's bullshit and I called them on it. They're talking about capacitance. It's the same as saying a battery is 1,000,000 times more powerful then a capacitor. Technically, it's true, but it does not release as fast as a capacitor. It's apples to oranges. Which is why capacitors are measured in farads/columbs and batterys are measured in amp-hours and volts.

You cannot use watts for a capacitor.

80W is more like it. A spark plug will fire exactally that. There is no more power possibly comming out of it then from a normal spark plug.

Alex01tib

Well you can toss around guesses, and thought experiments all you want.

But at least this thing has chance of working, all the fuel economy myths were busted BAD on MYTHBUSTERS.

Most made you lose 30% of your economy.

These guys may just feel there product works, letting EPA test it and all, better than what tornado and similars did (they just claimed results).

I've never heard of anybody hopping on a dyno with fresh plugs and seeing a 5-10hp increase, if they did, people would be swapping plugs every 700 miles or so.

But even if he did hop on a dyno with fresh plugs you might just say, "they were a shitty brand, should have used XXXX"

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Don't get me wrong, anyone who knows me knows i'm a skeptic, and i'm not believing this until i see it, but i'm also not going to disbelieve it based on some half-cocked theory and "if they could have done it they would have already done it" claims.

Thats like Charles Duell saying "Everything that can be invented - has already been invented"

That was in the 19th century, boy was he wrong.

DTN

^^ They posted details of their own testing, but they did not post any details other then like 2% on EPA testing. They did not even specify what plugs they tested against.

I'm not saying it's all been done before. I'm saying a capacitor in the spark plug is the same as a capacitor in the spark wire. there's not much difference.