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  #16  
Old 07-13-2009, 05:41 AM
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Trevor Trevor is offline
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Re: Plasma Booster

Quote:
Originally Posted by TomsSVX View Post
Because the placibo effect has got the car enthusiast world by the balls.

Tom
At last we have a fact of facts. First, well and accurately stated, secondly confirmed by one who in fact, if he wished, could ride the placebo band wagon towards a thicker wallet. It is not difficult to recognise those already aboard, collecting the fares, or duped into the ride.

As for the Plasma Booster, think multi spark ignition. Surely the name tells all. Should have been Placebo Booster. Henry Ford used it on the model T, but for very different reasons. At the change of century, is it now possible/necessary/better to ignite a highly combustible compressed gas, many times? You got to be quicker than quick to do/suggest it!

P.S. Plasma --- An ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons in proportions resulting in more or less no overall electric charge, typically at low pressures (as in the upper atmosphere and in fluorescent lamps) or at very high temperatures (as in stars and nuclear fusion reactors).
• an analogous substance consisting of mobile charged particles (such as a molten salt or the electrons within a metal).
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As a child, on cold mornings I gladly stood in cowpats to warm my bare feet, but I detest bull$hit!

Last edited by Trevor; 07-13-2009 at 05:48 AM. Reason: P.S. added.
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  #17  
Old 07-13-2009, 06:47 AM
Phil Hill Phil Hill is offline
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Re: Plasma Booster

Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor View Post
At last we have a fact of facts. First, well and accurately stated, secondly confirmed by one who in fact, if he wished, could ride the placebo band wagon towards a thicker wallet. It is not difficult to recognise those already aboard, collecting the fares, or duped into the ride.

As for the Plasma Booster, think multi spark ignition. Surely the name tells all. Should have been Placebo Booster. Henry Ford used it on the model T, but for very different reasons. At the change of century, is it now possible/necessary/better to ignite a highly combustible compressed gas, many times? You got to be quicker than quick to do/suggest it!

P.S. Plasma --- An ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons in proportions resulting in more or less no overall electric charge, typically at low pressures (as in the upper atmosphere and in fluorescent lamps) or at very high temperatures (as in stars and nuclear fusion reactors).
• an analogous substance consisting of mobile charged particles (such as a molten salt or the electrons within a metal).
Yes I think we have a winner !! Tom is absolutely correct that you will not, in a car weighing 1500kg, with an auto trans, feel a power increase of 10% significantly from the drivers seat. A chassis dyno will, and your timing slips should, but not "the seat of your pants".

If you said you had reduced the vehicle weight by 10%, well thats a different matter !!

I have often wondered about these "multispark" systems as seen at classic and vintage car shows across with globe, and I having checked out the website of the product sited I assume this is a version for "modern" vehicles. My observation is the same as for the classics : How many times do you need to light a fire once it's already lit ??

We are looking into true plasma torch ignitors for our Industrial Gas Turbines, so we can light ever leaner mixtures in our low emission combustion systems. The plasma "flame" is very impressive and would melt a "normal" sparking plug in a few seconds !!

Phil.
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Last edited by Phil Hill; 07-13-2009 at 07:25 AM. Reason: correcting smelling pisstakes again.........
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  #18  
Old 07-13-2009, 08:04 AM
poweredx2 poweredx2 is offline
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Re: Plasma Booster

I am not pushing no products here,just a little info to those owners that are on a budget and looking at parts that improve on the svx.I feel it would be a great help to provide info IF you already have purchase and tried that product.Thanks for the info and thanks to Mr.Ford but my plasma booster/ignition voltage booster should be at my doorstep in about 2-3 days.
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  #19  
Old 07-13-2009, 08:56 AM
Phil Hill Phil Hill is offline
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Re: Plasma Booster

Ok, so hopefully you will give us some feedback on the results of fitting said kit to your SVX ?? I assume there are 6 "do-dah's" to fit, one for each "coil-on-plug" yes ??

I'd be interested in knowing what it actually is inside the box, how it works. I'm not trying to "rain on anyone's parade" but I am all for some imperical results of any product, as there is too much "urban myth and legend" about what does and doesn't work. Back to back data is king, conjecture and hype are not.

Let me tell a little tail about one of my father's cars, a 1981 Fiat 131 SuperMirafiori. This had a 1600 Fiat twincam 8v engine, a little peach of a motor fed by a webber twin downdraft carb and a "clockwork" distributor complete with points which made a huge 95bhp (it was a lot for a family saloon in Europe in 1981 anyway !!). We fitted something called a "Sparkrite2000" ignition booster to it, which was basically a capacitive discharge ignition booster. This, and similar systems, takes the 12v dc supply from the ignition circuit, turns it into AC using an oscillator circuit, feeds this to a step-up transformer which increases the voltage to about 400v AC, is then rectified back to dc and used this to charge up a big capacitor.

If I remember correctly when the points close it triggers an SCR which discharges the capacitor into the coil very quickly with 400ish v dc rather than slowly charging the coil with 12v dc. This means a larger energy transfer to the coil, and as the ignition coil is nothing more than a step-up transformer itself, the coil output will be increased by it's turn ratio, thus boosting the spark "energy" on it's way to the plug. Assuming your plug leads, distributor cap and plugs could handle it of course.

The other advantage of this was you were not breaking the full back-emf of the coil across the face of the points, which ment they stayed "in gap" a lot longer before the surfaces erroded away or the condensor failed.

So it did do more-or-less what it said on the box: it did boost the ignition system voltage, it did give more reliable sparking, it did improve starting, and it did save wear and tear on the points and condensor. Did it give any more HP or MPG as claimed ?? Nope, not even after we opened up the plug gaps and re-timed the dizzy !! Did we have to buy new plug wires and a dizzy cap to combat all our hard earned extra voltage from tracking out everywhere ?? You bet !! It looked like a lightning storm under the bonnet with the old wires on !!

Most telling of all I suppose : Did we take it off this car to fit to it's replacement ?? Nope........

Don't be put off by my (our ??) cynical nature, it's the engineer in me I'm afraid !! And please do let us know how this works out for ya !!

Phil. (where's that "drinking a beer" smilie when you need it ??)
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Last edited by Phil Hill; 07-13-2009 at 09:00 AM. Reason: getting my worms murdled up.......
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  #20  
Old 07-13-2009, 11:52 AM
poweredx2 poweredx2 is offline
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Re: Plasma Booster

Very well put,I'll post some information and try to take into account that what I get with fwd you may not see with awd.
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