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Old 04-05-2013, 10:28 PM   #273 (permalink)
California98Civic
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Coastal Southern California
Posts: 6,299

Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
Team Honda
90 day: 66.42 mpg (US)

Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike
90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jorge89 View Post
I've been thinking about removing my car's alternator to save on fuel. I only drive about 15 miles a day and I wouldn't mind charging the battery at home every night. I also have a 72 watt solar panel I built which I could use to keep the battery from discharging too fast. The parking lots at my school and work don't have any shade and I'd get about 10 hours of sun every day so I'm sure that would help. I just want to know if having to start the car 3 times a day and driving 15 miles with the solar panel would be too much. If so, would adding another battery help?
You needn't remove it to get the benefit. Put it on an on/off switch if you can. When the field windings can't power up, the belt/pulley alone puts very very little drag on the engine. But with an on/off switch, you always have easy instant access to the alternator generating ability if you need it. That's my set up. Works very well for me. The solar panel will help a little, but only very little. I plug my deep-cycle battery in at night. More details are available on my car's page, including links and battery brands and such.

Good luck! Keep us all posted. I'd love to see your solar panel results if you try it.

james
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.



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