Sparkplug Equivalents

[RES]

I had the impression that Resistor plugs offered some performance benefits in the way of a higher voltage spark. From all the searching I have done on this subject, it appears that this is incorrect. There is no voltage advantage. From what I see the only benefit of the resistor plug is to eliminate radio interference and to prevent disturbances on some ignition systems on cars, motorcycles, etc. The resistor plug takes no effect until the plug fires, at which time the resistor dissipates some of the coil energy. It takes longer to discharge the spark, giving you a longer duration weaker spark for whatever thats worth. On a chainsaw the resistor probably prevents interference with your neighbors electronics. I see no other advantage.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

It all depends on how sensitive the ignition electronics are. I wouldn't really give much credit to an engineer who designed an ignition system that failed because someone used a non-resistor plug.

However, bean counters being in control like they are, I would not be surprised to see such a fragile system in production.