5th generation civic hatchback - improving aerodynamics

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Shoulda put the letters on reverse like the ambulances do,

Or drive backwards!

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Shoulda put the letters on reverse like the ambulances do,

Those little cling on letters only have adhesive on the "right" side.

Backwards letters are a good idea if you have custom vinyl lettering done.

[AndrewJ]

What, you may ask, do $8 worth of used batteries look like?


An awful lot like this:





The sad part is that I spent 10x more on the stuff to accompany the batteries. But at least I got that all with the bike

Shown on the bike: 5 gallons of distilled water, 2 large battery boxes (and lids!), various battery terminals and 4awg wires, a box of baking powder.

[LostCause]

$8 is a great deal, but I bet you'll get some amazing glides when just one of those batteries is installed full time. How much does each one weigh?

I'm interested to see how you install everything. I take it you won't be shoe-horning that battery into the engine bay?

You are doing some of the most innovative stuff on this site. I can't wait for more...

- LostCause

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

What, you may ask, do $8 worth of used batteries look like?

Looks like 300% profit to me, based on current scrap prices

Those are 12 volts each?

EDIT: had any chance to test them for capacity yet? I bet that's what you're working on now...

[mattW]

I'm curious about how the reduction in electrical load to increased weight ratio pans out? I guess it would depend on your starter useage vs acceleration, this one will be hard to call... Looking forward to the results (get that scangauge working =P).

[AndrewJ]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Those are 12 volts each?

EDIT: had any chance to test them for capacity yet? I bet that's what you're working on now...

Yep, they're 12 volts each, and they were (when new) 130 aH each.

I haven't tested them yet, because I haven't got my battery charger yet. I'm just gonna hook a couple up tomorrow and just give it a whirl.

I've been super-swamped with work so tomorrow's all I have to get it hooked up. When I get my charger I'll weed out the duds. I'm just going for proof-of-concept right now.

Originally Posted by mattW

I'm curious about how the reduction in electrical load to increased weight ratio pans out? I guess it would depend on your starter useage vs acceleration, this one will be hard to call... Looking forward to the results (get that scangauge working =P).

With the weight, I'm expecting that adding 150lbs of batteries will detract 1.5% from my FE, so -0.5mpg.
Judging from Darin's 10% gain with running alternator-less, I could see a 10% gain, that's 5.7mpg

That'd put me up to 63-63mpg

[Daox]

Sounds like a good plan. Can't wait to see results.

[AndrewJ]

So, batteries were cleaned up with a solution of water and baking soda.

It was pretty cool to see/hear the acid hissing as it was neutralized by the baking-soda solution.

After I had plenty of fun with chemistry, I ran 4awg wire from the battery under the hood to the spare tire well.

Then, batteries were hooked up. They're 12v batteries, so I hooked two of them up in parallel for a final voltage of, you guessed it, 12 volts.

Here's what they looked like when they were all done and boxed up.







Then I hooked up the alternator-kill wire. It's basically a switch in the dash that grounds out the alt-control wire from the ECU.
(it's the red thing above the hazard light switch)







And now for the pièce de résistance.I present to you the solar-kammback!











I found this 5watt solar panel on sale at Harbor Freight for $40, and in a moment of weakness, I bought it (it probably helped that the wife was out of town that day)

So now there are three ways to charge up my batteries: turn on the alternator, use a battery charger, or park in the sun (for a long time)

Oh, and for now I'll be monitoring pack voltage with a DMM that'll be hastily velcroed to the dash in some fashion. I ordered a little standalone digital voltmeter from ebay, but it hasn't got here yet. Apparently it takes a while to get here from China...



Not many pics, I know, but by the time I finished up it was dark and raining.

So I'll get some more pics up later...
Probably after my battery charger and digital voltmeter get here...

[reformed]

I've read on here that intake air temps of above around 110 can possibly hurt FE. I know nothing of this, so I'm curious if you had any results from the WAI alone. I actually just flipped my "intake" (the little endcap with the square on the one end) to the way you have it facing but I havent run any duct work yet.