Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland
You can cut the fuel on a diesel rabbit by turning the key off, the mechanical fuel pump has a solenoid valve, a single wire going to the valve, that is the only thing that keeps the engine running is the fuel getting to the pump.
As for the alternator, a smaller alternator isn't going to make much of a change other then the stock alternator an electrical load is an electrical load, spinning the two alternators without a load should be about the same drag, so spinning them with the same amount of load should be about the same.
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Ryland you are right about cutting the fuel with the key, but that sometimes confuses the glowplug controls and the seatbelt interlock, so I have a switch to do that. I don't use it anymore though because it is not 100% reliable. I tried a normally closed momentary switch for a dome light, but that switch was all over the place and would have anywhere from .3 to 1.2 ohms resistance, that worked about 75% of the time. I replaced it with a Volvo rocker switch that is much more consistent at around .2 ohms, but it is still not perfect. At 2 amps the solenoid coil can't stand much additional resistance in series and still produce enough force to lift the core. A manual control would go around that completely and draw no current.
If I got rid of the solenoid coil the average current drain on the car would drop so much I could probably put the 15 Watts of PV panels I have on it and just toss the alternator. Since I put in Bosch 80010 4 second glow plugs the starting performance is simply spectacular. Even on a cold day (for Arizona) the starter only has to crank for a second or two.
Thinking about this made me curious enough to calculate:
Glow plugs are on a 50 amp fuse so 0.00066 kWh per start.
Starter assuming its 2 hp, 0.0008 kWh per start.
Fuel Solenoid 0.024 kWh per hour use.
Headlamps 65W each, 0.13 kWh per hour use.
15 W PV panels 6 hour average insolation per day 0.09 kWh
So, I conclude I could easily add the PV panels and given my normal commuting duty cycle easily toss the alternator. If I can slack it off and wire the belt out of the way, I could easily reconnect any time I need it. And, if I got a manual control on the fuel flow, I might never need it again.