Disconnecting alternator from car....

If you disconnect the alternator, be sure you have a real good battery
and don't drive too far.
cuhulin

wrote:
> If you disconnect the alternator, be sure you have a real good battery
> and don't drive too far.
> cuhulin
>


With most current vehicles disconnecting the alternator will cause far
more problems then limited range. The ECM will not like the loss of
power from the alternator. Even with a good deep cell battery you will
probably only make it about 50 miles before the system shuts down.

I know that on the older cars running a generator they would pull the
belt off on the drag strip and gain about 5HP. On those vehicles the
belt was separate from the water pump drive on most vehicles.

If you want to try it all you have to do is unplug the alternator. Be
prepared to watch the dash light up like a Christmas tree. Don't turn on
ANY accessories like A/C, radio, power windows, whatever else.

With it disconnected you might gain about 2 HP. Of course after you
drive till the battery discharges plan on buying a new battery. Oh and
if you connect up the alternator to charge the battery back up plan on
buying a new one of them as well. They are not designed for long term
high output any longer. Most will fry if they have to put out much over
half the rated max for any length of time.

--
Steve W.

Much better to keep on letting those 3 or 4 or 5 Horses keep on pulling
that alternator.
No Doubt about it!
cuhulin

"Steve W." > wrote in message news:il5j3s$ef8>
> With it disconnected you might gain about 2 HP. Of course after you drive
> till the battery discharges plan on buying a new battery. Oh and if you
> connect up the alternator to charge the battery back up plan on buying a
> new one of them as well. They are not designed for long term high output
> any longer. Most will fry if they have to put out much over half the rated
> max for any length of time.
>
> --
> Steve W.

I agree.. A 100 amp alternator putting full current would be about 1300-1400
watts, just about 2 hp. But in real life you dont pull that much
current all the time, most likely.

In rough terms, 2 hp compared with 200 hp (when fully putting out),
would be 1%. And 1% would probably resolve to 0.2-0.3 mpg.

At least the boy is using his thought processes. Thought experiments
worked well for Einstein, Hawking, Penrose, et alia.. But on cars, it
is better to engineer it and test the result

"hls" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Steve W." > wrote in message news:il5j3s$ef8>
>> With it disconnected you might gain about 2 HP. Of course after you drive
>> till the battery discharges plan on buying a new battery. Oh and if you
>> connect up the alternator to charge the battery back up plan on buying a
>> new one of them as well. They are not designed for long term high output
>> any longer. Most will fry if they have to put out much over half the
>> rated max for any length of time.
>>
>> --
>> Steve W.
>
> I agree.. A 100 amp alternator putting full current would be about
> 1300-1400 watts, just about 2 hp. But in real life you dont pull that
> much
> current all the time, most likely.
>
> In rough terms, 2 hp compared with 200 hp (when fully putting out),
> would be 1%. And 1% would probably resolve to 0.2-0.3 mpg.
>
> At least the boy is using his thought processes. Thought experiments
> worked well for Einstein, Hawking, Penrose, et alia.. But on cars, it
> is better to engineer it and test the result

Do you really need to test the fact that at 60 mph, a small car is drawing
10-20 hp, and not 200 hp?
In rough terms, 2 hp is then 10-20%, not 1% -- which, btw, I already pointed
out.

And, altho the electrical draw on average may be modest, the residual
frictional load is proly on the order of a better part of a hp. You could
have an engineer test that particular detail.....
--
EA


>

On Tue, 8 Mar 2011 19:27:45 -0500, Existential Angst wrote:

> Do you really need to test the fact that at 60 mph, a small car is drawing
> 10-20 hp, and not 200 hp?

There is a lot of wind resistance to overpower at 60mph

"Existential Angst" ) writes:
> "hls" > wrote in message
> ...
>>

>> "Steve W." > wrote in message news:il5j3s$ef8>
>>> With it disconnected you might gain about 2 HP. Of course after you drive
>>> till the battery discharges plan on buying a new battery. Oh and if you
>>> connect up the alternator to charge the battery back up plan on buying a
>>> new one of them as well. They are not designed for long term high output
>>> any longer. Most will fry if they have to put out much over half the
>>> rated max for any length of time.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Steve W.

>>
>> I agree.. A 100 amp alternator putting full current would be about
>> 1300-1400 watts, just about 2 hp. But in real life you dont pull that
>> much
>> current all the time, most likely.
>>
>> In rough terms, 2 hp compared with 200 hp (when fully putting out),
>> would be 1%. And 1% would probably resolve to 0.2-0.3 mpg.
>>
>> At least the boy is using his thought processes. Thought experiments
>> worked well for Einstein, Hawking, Penrose, et alia.. But on cars, it
>> is better to engineer it and test the result

>
> Do you really need to test the fact that at 60 mph, a small car is drawing
> 10-20 hp, and not 200 hp?
> In rough terms, 2 hp is then 10-20%, not 1% -- which, btw, I already pointed
> out.

>
> And, altho the electrical draw on average may be modest, the residual
> frictional load is proly on the order of a better part of a hp. You could
> have an engineer test that particular detail.....
> --
> EA
>


Frictional load is nowhere close to a hp. Have you ever spun an alternator
by hand? Its almost friction-less. The only effort needed is to rotate the
mass and that is only when accelerating it to a higher speed. You do know that
alternators by their very nature are automatic... they automatically
respond to electrical load presented... no electrical load presented, no
magnetic drag... an electrical load presented, a corresponding magnetic drag.

You know you can achieve the same thing WITHOUT disconnecting the
alternator. Actually you can achieve more... the equivalent of a belt less
disconnected alternator, and still produce electricity! All you have to do
is weigh all the rotating mass (pulley that drives the belt, belt that drives
the alternator rotor, the alternator rotor itself) and add a small
fraction of a percent for the bearing friction, brush friction, and
windage (air that the rotor pushes around) and then remove "meat" from the
flywheel! Not enough "meat" on the flywheel to equal the rotating mass?
Remove "meat" from the pistons, piston pins, connecting rods, and
crankshaft! Be careful though... removing "meat" can be dangerous to the
health of an engine! Think "balance". Also check out the availability (and
weight savings) of titanium connecting rods for your engine.

M.A. Stewart wrote:
> "Existential Angst" ) writes:
>> "hls" > wrote in message
>> ...
>
>>> "Steve W." > wrote in message news:il5j3s$ef8>
>>>> With it disconnected you might gain about 2 HP. Of course after you drive
>>>> till the battery discharges plan on buying a new battery. Oh and if you
>>>> connect up the alternator to charge the battery back up plan on buying a
>>>> new one of them as well. They are not designed for long term high output
>>>> any longer. Most will fry if they have to put out much over half the
>>>> rated max for any length of time.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Steve W.
>
>>> I agree.. A 100 amp alternator putting full current would be about
>>> 1300-1400 watts, just about 2 hp. But in real life you dont pull that
>>> much
>>> current all the time, most likely.
>>>
>>> In rough terms, 2 hp compared with 200 hp (when fully putting out),
>>> would be 1%. And 1% would probably resolve to 0.2-0.3 mpg.
>>>
>>> At least the boy is using his thought processes. Thought experiments
>>> worked well for Einstein, Hawking, Penrose, et alia.. But on cars, it
>>> is better to engineer it and test the result
>
>> Do you really need to test the fact that at 60 mph, a small car is drawing
>> 10-20 hp, and not 200 hp?
>> In rough terms, 2 hp is then 10-20%, not 1% -- which, btw, I already pointed
>> out.
>
>> And, altho the electrical draw on average may be modest, the residual
>> frictional load is proly on the order of a better part of a hp. You could
>> have an engineer test that particular detail.....
>> --
>> EA
>>
>
>
> Frictional load is nowhere close to a hp. Have you ever spun an alternator
> by hand? Its almost friction-less. The only effort needed is to rotate the
> mass and that is only when accelerating it to a higher speed. You do know that
> alternators by their very nature are automatic... they automatically
> respond to electrical load presented... no electrical load presented, no
> magnetic drag... an electrical load presented, a corresponding magnetic drag.
>
> You know you can achieve the same thing WITHOUT disconnecting the
> alternator. Actually you can achieve more... the equivalent of a belt less
> disconnected alternator, and still produce electricity! All you have to do
> is weigh all the rotating mass (pulley that drives the belt, belt that drives
> the alternator rotor, the alternator rotor itself) and add a small
> fraction of a percent for the bearing friction, brush friction, and
> windage (air that the rotor pushes around) and then remove "meat" from the
> flywheel! Not enough "meat" on the flywheel to equal the rotating mass?
> Remove "meat" from the pistons, piston pins, connecting rods, and
> crankshaft! Be careful though... removing "meat" can be dangerous to the
> health of an engine! Think "balance". Also check out the availability (and
> weight savings) of titanium connecting rods for your engine.
>
>
>
>

meh.
You want light? Just start with a carbon car:
http://www.paganiautomobili.it/

and . . . it's Italian.

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Yeah, the Italians make some good stuff.

Emma comes first,,,
cuhulin

In message >, Existential Angst
> writes
>Do you really need to test the fact that at 60 mph, a small car is drawing
>10-20 hp, and not 200 hp?
>In rough terms, 2 hp is then 10-20%, not 1% -- which, btw, I already pointed
>out.
>And, altho the electrical draw on average may be modest, the residual
>frictional load is proly on the order of a better part of a hp. You could
>have an engineer test that particular detail.....
The biggest draw on your fuel will be moving air around your car.
--
Clive