Smart plugs? Anybody tried this?
 

I just ran across this site and was wondering if anybody has tried this:
https://www.smartplugs.com/index.html

Just wondering.

M

Sounds kinda like a system that has the coil built into the plug. Seems like it would be best suited for an engine that runs at a constant RPM and load rather than variable

Yeah, they use it on a lot of small gasoline engines.

ma4t -

Here's previous commentary on it :

SmartPlugs 12-27-2005
https://www.gassavers.org/showthread....ght=smartplugs

And this mentions it too :

Pulsing Spark Plugs 06-18-2007
https://www.gassavers.org/showthread....highlight=plug

CarloSW2

My dad's 02 Si hatch has coils built in with the plugs. No distributor.

These look like nothing more than a reinvention of 'hot wire' ignition, which was superceded some time ago by... the Spark Plug.

Next thing they will be rediscovering the wick carburettor.

Yeah, that's pretty common on new cars. The plug isn't built into the coil - there's still a separate spark plug down there. It's just that each plug has it's own dedicated ignition coil instead of one coil, shared between the plugs via a distributor cap, rotor and wires. Too bad there's no simple way to convert older motors... It eliminates a bunch of ignition system wear parts and improves efficiency I'm sure.
The current Civic hybrid motor has 2 plugs per cylinder, which fire at slightly different moments to optimize air/fuel burn. Try doing that with a distributor.

Take your distributor and install sensors at the plug wires with low voltage leads to each coil on each plug and put a magnet on the rotor tip to trigger the pickups for each coil.

I have an '86 2.4L Nissan I4 truck engine with 8 plugs that are fired from a distributor. 2 coils and a lot of wires.

Interesting, but I assume it fires both plugs for a given cylinder simultaneously? I have a hard time thinking of a way, short of what amounts to two separate distributors, to isolate the cap contacts from each other enough to allow the plugs to be fired individually in rapid succession.


Yeah, but then you need something to interpret the electrical pulses generated by the magnet and pickup assemblies and use that information to direct the ECU ignition signal to the proper coil.
Wait a minute... It might not be so convenient for other cars, but AFAIK, all port fuel injected Hondas use sequential injection instead of batch-fire. Meaning the ECU only fires a fuel injector while the intake valves for it's preticular cylinder are open. The order of fuel injection should be identical to the ignition firing order, but offset by a crank revolution and change. Maybe the injector signals could be used to trigger the needed switching. Switching would stop while coasting, but that doesn't matter... No fuel is passing through the cylinders, and there's no point in trying to ignite air.