TOPIC:

I'm just curious if anyone had any experience with these new plugs. Apparently they send out a million volt pulse and have a capacitor- like a flash camera instead of an approximate 50 volt spark from a traditonal plug, which would be like turning a flashlight on.

I wonder how and if they would affect electronic ignition systems?

Here's a link...

www.pulstarplug.com/index.html

onanysunday wrote:

I'm just curious if anyone had any experience with these new plugs. Apparently they send out a million volt pulse and have a capacitor- like a flash camera instead of an approximate 50 volt spark from a traditonal plug, which would be like turning a flashlight on.

No spark plug on earth will fire with a "50 volt spark". It takes a whole lot more than that to jump an air gap of .035", it takes at least a thousand Volts or more. Old style conventional coil ignitions would crank up to an open circuit voltage of maybe 10kV - 15kV. The new hotter CDI types get up to about 50kV open circuit. But, understand, the spark fires and jumps the air gap at whatever voltage it takes to jump, and when it jumps that clamps the secondary voltage to that value. So, as long as the supplied voltage exceeds what is needed to generate a good spark, the excess is just for advertising sparkle.

Sandy wrote:

I wonder how and if they would affect electronic ignition systems?

Here's a link...

www.pulstarplug.com/index.html

FYI, this claim from their site is pure BS:

Instead of 50 watts of peak power typical of all spark plugs, pulse plugs deliver up to 10 times more peak power. It takes electrical power to light fuel. The more power (watts) the better. Nothing can compete with Pulstarâ„¢.

It does NOT take power to ignite the fuel mix, it takes VOLTAGE to make the spark appear at the air gap. That spark is like a lightning strike: it will "jump" at the particualr point of least resistance and as it jumps it clamps the secondary voltage of the supplying circuitry to that voltage.

This is just another hocus pocus scam to sucker people out of their money. FYI, the CDI's on modern engines work better mainly because they contain a DC-DC converter that supplies a higher primary (source) voltage which is independent of battery voltage. That means the ignition voltage doesn't sag as you crank the engine and you get better starting. CDI's also can provide a much higher secondary open circuit voltage (over 50kV) which will fire a "reluctant" plug that may be oil fouled.

save your money on these spark plugs.

It's starting to sound more and more like a bunch of hocus pocus! But I wonder, wouldn't there be ANY change in the characteristics of engine combustion if a pulse current is charged via a capacitor circuit before it is released to bridge the electrode gap? At the very least it would appear to increase the voltage of the spark and combustion characterisitics. However, if other electrical systems of the bike cannot really accomodate a higher spark, I could see how it could all be for nothing! Except possibly for bikes w/CDI 1979 and later. These plugs have a 100% money-back guarantee if you aren't completely satisfied.

1979 KZ1000 E-1
VM28SS
K&N Pods

onanysunday wrote:

It's starting to sound more and more like a bunch of hocus pocus! But I wonder, wouldn't there be ANY change in the characteristics of engine combustion if a pulse current is charged via a capacitor circuit before it is released to bridge the electrode gap?

NO. As long as there is an adequate spark, all the rest is rubbish. FYI, I researched this a while back and the reason a certain portion of fuel is unused on each cycle is not because of impotent spark, it's because when the fuel combines with oxygen a small % of it goes into a form which is not combustible. All the spark on earth won't fix that.

onanysunday wrote:

At the very least it would appear to increase the voltage of the spark and combustion characterisitics.

It is actually impossible to do anything to "increase the voltage of the spark". It works like this. The ignition secondary creates a high voltage which builds up across the air gap, creating an "E" field across the gap. As the voltage increases far enough, it reaches a point where the E field is strong enough to cause electrons to jump the gap. At that voltage it sparks, and the sparking action clamps the secondary voltage RIGHT THERE. It makes no difference how much higher the open circuit voltage would have gone, the spark clamped it at whatever voltage it took to jump the gap.

The advantage of CDI and similar systems is that by increasing the open circuit voltage from say 10kV to 60kV, that gives more voltage to spark a dirty plug. If there is carbon or crud on it and it would take 25kV to get it to spark across, a higher voltage ignition will fire it.

onanysunday wrote:

These plugs have a 100% money-back guarantee if you aren't completely satisfied.

That's to give you the illusion that they actually do something and take advantage of the fact most people won't waste their lunch hour standing in line to mail a package back (costing them probably $10 to mail) to get a small refund.

EDIT TO ADD: YEOWW! $25 EACH! They will definitely be getting some return mail on that offer. Get your claims in quick, since bankruptcy courts only pay about 5 cents on the dollar.

BTW: for those not as old as me, there were two previous "breakthrough" spark plugs:

SPLITFIRE: the ground electrode was split like a snake's tongue. Does absolutely NOTHING since the spark will occur at whatever path it breaks down first as the voltage builds up.

FIRE INJECTORS: had six electrodes around the tip. Again does absolutely nothing, since you will still just get one spark at whatever path breaks down first as the voltage builds up.

I recall JC Whitney used to sell these and they had a money back guarantee along with a whole bunch of unfounded claims.

Here are a couple links to independent tests regarding Pulstar-

www.sparkplugs.com/sparkplug411.asp?kw=S...+Dyno+Results&mfid=0

www.change2e85.com/servlet/Detail?no=167

These independent findings look promising.

I am no expert on ethanol vehicles, but:

We tested the Pulstarâ„¢ Plug with the Full Flex E85 conversion kit and were blown away by what was achieved. We were able to increase mileage, increase horsepower and torque.

We have been running E85 ethanol for tens of thousands of miles and have always told our customers that there is no need to change spark plugs when using a Full Flex conversion kit. We still stand by this statement.

The Pulstarâ„¢ Plug has a spark that is 20,000 times greater than a traditional spark plug. Ethanol and its high octane, burns slower and cooler than gasoline. The Pulstarâ„¢ will ignite more ethanol faster. The result is more power. Since there is more horsepower and torque, less ethanol is required. The result is better mileage.

This is pure crap. The burn rate isn't what determines power. In fact, add ons like water vapor injection are implemented specifically to slow the burn rate on the flame front because it burns more evenly and thoroghly, extracting more power than a rapid burn. The faster the burn, the more energy is lost in heat. I don't believe this baloney.


From the second "test" site:

After testing, the Pulstar plug had a horsepower advantage // the
highest average horsepower (204.04hp). The NGK Iridium IX showed the second highest average horsepower (203.78hp),

Are you kidding me?

The Pulstar had a whopping increase of 0.12%?

You're trying to tell me that is actually measurable?

I think I'll go for the magic beans myself....