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Old 07-21-2014, 12:27 PM   #126 (permalink)
California98Civic
Cyborg ECU
 
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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 serialk11r View Post
I think my MR2 has a dumb alternator (not controlled by ECU, not engine load dependent), and it puts out 14.4V or something like that, but I noticed the voltage in the other cars in the family varies quite a bit. Perhaps a direct alternator swap would do the trick, or even just the regulator?
It would take more of a swap than that, I think. The Hondas have an "Electric Load Detector" that contributes to the load-dependent voltage changes. The wiring harness also needs lines for the ECU to read the voltage at the alt. Your best mod might be an alt kill switch, greater battery capacity, and grid charging. You could run without the alt for all your shorter trips. MetroMPG saw a 10% FE increase when he tested that setup. It's what I run too. My alt is off most of the time.
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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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