Alternator delete stuff and testing...

[tollo]

First warning: I think this is going to be quite long story...

I've been thinking about deleting alternator and running my car mostly with batteries. I made first testings to find out how long I can get with my standard battery. It is basic Varta 60Ah 12V battery.

The car is opel (vauxhall or holden) astra caravan (estate?) 2001 with 1.6liter engine. Deleting alternator is easy: I just lose the pulley with 15mm key and take the alternator belt of. (Water bump is with timing belt) About 30 sec job to take of and minute job to put it back.

I charged the battery with exide plug in charger to ensure that my battery is full loaded. My target was to get about 125km (78miles). SG2 showed battery voltage and this kind of tables:



helped to estimate how long I could go. With clamp ampere meter I got that car uses something about 20amps when running daytimerunninglights and other necessary instruments. With xenon lights and wipers I easily get about 40 amps and peak values with powersteering almost 100amps (I think that power steering is biggest ampere eater)

I started my testdrive and after couple of kilometers voltage leveled to 11.9 volts. I drove about 60-90km/h. After 120km (1h and 45 mitutes) I had 11.2 volts and I came to crossroads to turn left. When cornering the powersteering bump started running and voltage went down to 9 volts. ABS and airbag went off but car was still running. I continued and hope to get last hill up. Voltage rised slowly back up and ABS and airbag started work again. I turned the motor of and rolled last kilometer.

My bigger plann (just planning at the moment) is to put about 300Ah of lead acid batteries to my car. (enough ?) Most of them would cover the sparewheel. I could use plug in charger and batteries should last less than 4h of driving. In very bad weather (cold, dark and raining) I could put the alternator belt back on. Smaller plann is to drive only short (less than 50km) drivings (city) with basic battery and but the belt on to longer distances.

I think that batteries would last about 8 years (or more). How so long? No need to drive batteries totally empty and using quality charger won't charge with too high voltages. Too high voltages make batteries to dry. Extra batteries should be AGM or GEL because of the safety reasons. Most batteries die because of:

1. too high charging voltage
2. too deep discharge too long time
3. mechanical shocks

Fuel consumption goes down about 10%. My present consumption is about 5.7 l/100km and alternator takes about 0.2 to more than 1 l/100km mostly depending driving speed (30km/h-120km/h) and amount of electric equipments. In my case at least 0.3 l/100km (80km/h constant speed) to 0.6 l/100km (50km/h city driving).

... to be continue ( I hope ) ...

[RobertSmalls]

Turning the alternator belt and rotor is easy. An alternator that's producing power is hard to turn, but if you de-energize the field windings, it's very easy to turn. So you can retain maybe 90% of the fuel savings of removing the belt, with an alternator toggle switch.

300Ah sounds like quite a lot. If you add too much, you're adding too much weight and spending too much money. A toggle switch allows you to select just enough batteries to do your daily driving, and to use the alternator on longer trips.

Some folks have studied the Insight's electric power steering, and they say it draws considerable power, even from ordinary steering corrections on a straight strech of highway. You could pull the power steering fuse and see how you like manual steering in the Astra. I'm sure it will let you go further on a charge.

I have a charging system toggle switch, and my ABS computer is the first thing to fail as the voltage drops. This happens around 9V, and when it does, I switch the charging system back on.

[busypaws]

I too have an alternator field switch on my Toyota PU. I use it to turn off the alternator on dead starts up hill or need to make a quick left or exit in traffic. I get about 20-30 miles before the radio starts lossing power then I know to turn alternator back on.
1) Number 1 point is to train your wife/other to turn the switch on if they are driving. In my 5 years with the switch I had to go get my wife once and she called AAA once. Not fun.
2) Now that I do more EOC'ing I've not been able to restart a few times. I've had to get out and push or have help pushing to pop the clutch to start. Not fun at a stop light.
Good Luck.

[mwebb]

..."
I have a charging system toggle switch, and my ABS computer is the first thing to fail as the voltage drops. This happens around 9V, "....

because there are so many variables and '
"it depends" scenarios that are possible

i can not say for sure -
but on the European cars that i work on - if you suspect a charging system problem that may be intermittent , you can look in the

AIRBAG system first ,

if there is a "system voltage low" DTC you know there is a charging system problem , you just need to dig a bit harder to find / prove it .

does that mean the AIRBG system stops functioning sooner ....
at a "higher voltage" than ABS or Ignition ?

because there are so many variables and
"it depends" scenarios that are possible ,
i dunno .

but it is something to consider , if you like having AIRBAGs when you need them.

[bgd73]

there is a thing called resonant frequency, in reference to the chassis.. the alternator keeps this alive to disperse enrgies created by the engine, and othe groundings..DC is very very quiet...could get some rug zappers keeping it too quiet.

I learned it welding, its as deep as a car goes on the efficient subject.

I like the toggle idea, just let it stay the forceful grounder....do not unhook it.

radiator and direct fan is another great source for the force of dispersal...cars do not do the direct fan today either.

that could be the loss when unhooking: the engine cannot get out of its own energy.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by busypaws

... I've had to get out and push or have help pushing to pop the clutch to start. Not fun at a stop light.

LOL, I have to do that once or twice before I decide to fix the non-starting. I have a new starter and a trolling battery now fyi.

light is a real bonus in a small stick shift that its pretty easy to bumpstrt. I did it in my vw in the middle of a very busy intersection.

[tollo]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

300Ah sounds like quite a lot. If you add too much, you're adding too much weight and spending too much money.

300Ah sounds lot for me too but reasons why so much:

+ you can't add batteries during lifetime
+ I'm living in cold area (typical -15C in winter times)
+ only 50% of the capacity should be used to get long battery lifetime. Bigger is longer lifetime and so its better.
+ fuel price is here about 1,5eur / liter.
+ bigger means "less worries" ?

why not:

- expensive batteries
- heavy batteries
- smaller advantage on longer trips, when I need big battery bank


Alternator field switch might be much wiser mod. I think that it's possible to get about that 90% of the savings if you plug in your car after drive. In my case with the switch I could get about 30% of total fuel savings without expensive and heavy battery investment. With pit bigger batteries savings could be about 50%. (compared to big battery bank, not total savings.)