Thread: Pulstar Spark Plugs.....Gimmick or legit?

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  1. #1 Pulstar Spark Plugs.....Gimmick or legit? 
    Donating Users GeddyLee's Avatar
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    I was looking through my Motor Trend mag this month and found this ad for Pulstar Plugs. I went to their website Pulse Plugs - 20,000X More Powerful Than Spark Plugs. Greater Horsepower, Fuel Efficiency, Torque. to see what others thought about these plugs.

    I know Lee is a spark plug fanatic, and I know Scotty has some interest too, so I wanted to get your all's take on them. It almost seems like the old saying, "almost to good to be true."

    Here is a comparision picture of their plug to a regular spark plug.




    Here are some of the quotes I got from their site.

    Pulse plugs incorporate a pulse circuit, which stores incoming electrical energy from the ignition system and releases the stored energy in a powerful pulse of power. Instead of 50 watts of peak power typical of all spark plugs, pulse plugs deliver up to 1 million watts of peak power. So where does the pulse plug get its incredible power?

    When the ignition signal is sent to a traditional spark plug, it begins to ionize the spark gap. This means that the voltage builds in the gap until a spark can be formed. During this ionization phase, which lasts about 5 millionths of a second, the incoming voltage (which has nowhere to go) heats up ignition components including the spark plug. This is wasted energy. When the ignition voltage overcomes the resistance in the spark gap, the spark is created with an initial discharge of approximately 50 watts. Once created, the spark resides between the electrodes at very low power for over a period of 30 millionths of a second.

    What is different about a pulse plug is that instead of heating ignition parts during the ionization phase, this energy is stored in the integral circuit inside the pulse plug. When the ignition power overcomes the resistance in the spark gap, the pulse circuit discharges all of its accumulated power - 1 million watts - in 2 billionths of a second!

    A simple way to think about pulse plugs is that they are similar to a camera flash, whereas spark plugs are more like a flashlight. A camera flash is exponentially brighter than a flashlight even though they both may use the same battery.

    Tests at an independent laboratory demonstrate how Pulstar™ pulse plugs burn fuel more efficiently than spark plugs. In this high-speed video (shot at 68,000 frames per second), you can actually see the ignition plume of Pulstar™ growing at more than twice the speed of the spark plug. Pulstar™ generates a much larger spark than spark plugs, which reduces overall burn time and burns the fuel more completely. Once created, the spark dissipates over a period of 30 millionths of a second.

    With increased cylinder pressure, the pistons are pushed down with more force, which, in turn, generates more torque in the crankshaft, more liveliness to the throttle and more power to the wheels.

    Of course, if you don't use this torque to go faster, the engine does its work with less effort resulting in better fuel economy.

    Another way that Pulstar™ improves efficiency is by reducing cycle-to-cycle variation. Cycle-to-cycle variation occurs in every engine to some degree and is caused by the dynamics of combustion, load, fuel quality, mixture of air to fuel and many other combustion variables. These variables can cause the spark plug to generate a weak spark and in the worst case, a misfire. This variability in ignition timing robs all spark ignited, internal combustion engines of up to 10% of their efficiency.
    I know there were a lot of hopes for the Brisk plugs, I just thought I would put these out here and see what our community thought of them

    I also wanted to include their FAQ Page.

    FAQ Answers Questions About Installation and Use of Pulse Plugs as Aftermarket Auto Part

    I also went ahead and looked at the cost of these plugs...............WOWZA $24.95 A PIECE!!! And they said this about the gapping on our cars.

    Gapping: Set the Pulstar™ pulse gap specified above for your vehicle. Never exceed a gap of .040" with Pulstar™ plugs.
    Last edited by GeddyLee; 03-27-2008 at 11:15 AM.

    James Shafer
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