Anybody Used Pulstar Plugs on their 300C?

[BobF]

Just saw a TV commercial for Pulstar plugs. The website is:
Pulse Plugs - 20,000X More Powerful Than Spark Plugs. Greater Horsepower, Fuel Efficiency, Torque.
Has anyone tried these on their 300C's or SRT's? Regards, Bob.

[RPM300C]

Yet another load of Snake Oil...

They do not understand certain elementary fundamentals of electrical theory. Their web site states:

"...the incoming voltage (which has nowhere to go) heats up ignition components including the spark plug..."

Say WHAT? Heat is generated in electrical components when an electric current flows through something that resists the current flow. Your toaster is a perfect example of this in action. The tiny wires in the toaster resist the flow of current, and they are sized so that the heat generated makes them get red hot.

If the voltage "...has nowhere to go..." there is no current flow.
And if there is no current flow, no heat is generated.

If they do not understand this fundamental "Electricity 101" concept, I doubt that their spark plugs are any better than the "regular" plugs. But I bet they cost a lot more!

I'll be staying away from these things.

[MM-JAPAN]

Originally Posted by BobF

Just saw a TV commercial for Pulstar plugs. The website is:
Pulse Plugs - 20,000X More Powerful Than Spark Plugs. Greater Horsepower, Fuel Efficiency, Torque.
Has anyone tried these on their 300C's or SRT's? Regards, Bob.

I've seen other members asking about these but no one step up and said they were using them. I would be interested to hear from someone that does use them but at $25 a spark plug times 16 makes them a bit pricey. If they were that good I would think the racing world would be using them, maybe they need to sponsor a racing car or boat.
I would like to hear of a LX user that can afford the price and let the rest of us know if they are any different then the stock plugs.

[TLW1022]

Looks like another Snake Oil product...

"
No spark plug is going to produce more power or increase economy on its own. A degraded piece in the ignition system can definitely hurt both of those and upgrading or fixing a week link, such as a worn spark plug, can allow you to reach the full potential which is where gains come from.

I have a very good feeling you're going to waste your money but are welcome to try it out. If you want to do a dyno comparison start with a brand new set of regular copper plugs and then swap these in and make sure to do it in as controlled scientific manner as possible. Even then there are a lot of variables which can affect how the different plugs work.

From an electrical standpoint after looking at their diagrams and doing a little more research it appears these are nothing more than a traditional spark plug with a capacitive discharge circuit built into the plug. That's the same electrical principle as their older DirectHits system as well as how the Nology wires work. There's quite a bit of information out on the web to do some of your own research. And this is not how a capacitive discharge ignition (CDI) system works because the capacitor is not placed before the coil and provided with a stepped up voltage like in CDI. Instead a capacitor is placed after the coil (in the plug in this case) which means it should store the same amount of energy but release it in a shorter period of time. Power (measured in Watts which they like to brag about) is work done over a period of time. Same power, released faster = higher "advertised wattage".

You need a certain voltage to ionize a path across the combustion charge in order for the current or actual electrons to flow across and complete the circuit which forms the spark. These plugs and a CDI system should create a higher voltage but the stock inductive discharge also produces enough voltage to ionize a path for current to flow. The stock system is powerful enough in fact to form that path over a wider spark plug gap which is why it's so high from the factory on the SRT-4. When you put a big turbo on the car the cylinder pressures go up which make it harder for this to occur which is why many gap down in hopes to prevent misses, but the wider gap is better for combustion if the ignition system can support it.

A downside is the CDI systems discharge all their current very quickly which means a shorter spark. The inductive system may not have as high of a voltage potential at the plug tip but as long as it is enough to ionize a path for current that should not matter. One advantage is that it discharges slower so the spark itself is longer which is better for combustion in rich environments. High cylinder pressures is going to make it harder for either type of ignition systems to form a spark, but CDI works better in naturally aspirated engines where there is a leaner mixture.

Because of the capacitive charging nature the CDI systems hold an advantage at higher rpm's because they can fully charge and fire their coil faster than an inductive charging system coil. There is less time between cylinders firing as rpm's rise so there is less time available to charge the coil. The CDI system can charge and release its energy to its coil very fast and the inductive setup needs longer charge its coil. If there isn't enough time then coil output will drop which was a common problem on a lot of older ignition systems (think older V8's and distributor/point days). This has been reduced quite a bit on the modern computer controlled direct ignition systems (DIS) and with advances in coils (winding construction, etc.).

Since a longer spark is better for combustion most good CDI system are "multi-spark" and fire the plugs up to eight times is extremely rapid succession in the equivalent time a conventional IDI (inductive) system is discharging at lower to mid rpm's. Then as rpm's rise they cut back the number of times they. Since these Pulstar plugs and any of the capacitor-after-coil devices rely on charging from the stock IDI system output they cannot do this. A capacitor like this cannot create voltage or current and can only store it. The conventional ignition system fires, the Pulstar plugs collects and holds it for an extremely brief period and then releases it all at once. I'm not sure but it would be interesting to find out the latency but I'm guessing extremely brief since it acts as a different load than a regular plug and should be able to absorb it fast.

These Pulstar plugs therefore have some disadvantages but what about possible good things? For the owners running big turbochargers at really high boost and rpm's a higher voltage might help if there was spark issues and misses. But before dropping over a hundred dollars on plugs that are still going to wear out as fast as regular plugs (they state that they use the same type of electrodes but don't mention it they're platinum or iridium which would help with longer life) you'd want to make sure that is a problem. I see a lot of owners claiming ignition system issues but haven't looked what specifically might be causing them. It is possible to gap plugs too close, there could be issues taking a plug and gapping it too far out of its gapping range, poor plug wires, etc.

For the stock turbo owners that generally run richer and don't have extremely high cylinder pressures I see no reason for these plugs over a well maintained conventional ignition system and proper plugs. Unless you like a lighter wallet."

Here is a link from the SRT4 brothers.

New Spark Plugs Called Pulse Plugs - SRTforums.com

[BobF]

Glad you guys all agree that it is Snake Oil! They sure do put the commercial out a lot on cable TV. Thanks, guys. I was not planning to invest in $25 ea. to try them. Regards, Bob.