Alternator Elimination on 1998 Civic EX

[Energy Miser]

A deep cycle would be pretty simple. I have one, but it weighs about 80#s. I guess that isn't all that much.

[Energy Miser]

What do you mean I don't have a NiMh battery? I have a box full of 4/3 4500 mAh batteries with tabs that I bought at auction. I solder them together as needed when I do projects. I have them bolted into a plastic tray. I don't know where you got the 20KW number from, I have soldered the cells together in series of 11, and I have three of these in series. I use that configuration whenever I need to replicate car voltage. I use them to power a small inverter, a little fridge/warmer, a Dewalt battery charger, and a set of computer speakers. I make them all the time, the source is my workbench. I don't worry about monitoring the individual cells because I don't really care that much. If the pack goes bad early I'll take it apart and sweat together some new cells. My wife watched two movies last week when the power went out, using those batteries to power the TV in her sewing room.

[watercat]

seems like a lot of messing around to loose so much function. maybe it would be easier to move to where i went to school. it was up hill in both directions and it always snowed. you could put skis on it and just slide every where. 4, to 5 mpg seems pretty extreme. how about you just take off the alternator belt and drive it and see if its even worth it. I keep doing mods and most of them don't help so ?!

[frank316]

Completely pointless, you'll be lucky to gain 1/2 mpg.. WHY.. civics have a factory ELD (electronic load detector) that shuts off the voltage to the alternator field windings, which means when your car doesn't need anymore juice pumped into it the car shuts the alternator off and the only thing your spinning is the slight windage and friction losses in the alternator, not needlessly cranking out voltages..

Ben

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Energy Miser

What do you mean I don't have a NiMh battery? ... I don't know where you got the 20KW number from

Do not confuse Watts (rate) with Watt-hours (capacity).

As I said, you don't have a 2kWh NiMH battery that weighs <20lbs... it would be closer to 90lbs of NiMH cells, plus a housing.

Ah*V=Wh. I got 2kWh from the Ah*V you posted in the OP, which you've since corrected. Based on the new numbers, we're looking at 0.02kWh, or approximately zero. A molehill next to the 0.5kWh mountain that is a D51-R yellow top Civic battery, which itself gives "meh" fuel economy improvement.

Also, a NiMH cell IS a deep cycle battery.

[Energy Miser]

So there is nothing to be gained by removing the electrical generating load from the ICE in my car? I don't buy that. I have disconnected my alternator and I drove my car home 26 miles from work, at highway speeds. By the time I was home the car started to run poorly and wouldn't restart with the starter. The battery has a constant draw when the car is running. I don't want to generate electricity with my cars engine anymore. I will plug into the grid for that. I like using American made energy as opposed to foreign. I still get electricity that is made in the US at my house. If American made electricity offsets even a smidge of the fuel I use to get to and from my job, it is worth it. Someone once told me that I couldn't get 50 MPG from a stock Civic EX. Someone once told me I couldn't sell my own house and keep a $28,000 commission. Someone once told me I couldn't learn stock trading on my own. Someone once told me I couldn't drill my own water well. Someone once told me I couldn't plant and harvest 2 acres of corn by hand. If I listened to everyone that ever told me what I was doing was impossible or stupid, I can't imagine where I would be now. I love how forum posts always end up with people trying to discourage each other from trying things. I wonder what forums would have been like in Tesla's day, probably the same. I learn by trying, I learn more by failing. I was hoping for useful information on here, not just someone trying to convince me how stupid the things I want to do are. I want to do it. It is my time, my money, my car. If I fail, I will learn, if I learn I will try again.

[Energy Miser]

I guess I'll just solder in a few more chains of batteries, I have about 130 of them left. If not I'll use a couple trojan 6 volts I use for the electric fence. I am just looking to try it. I can refine the setup when it is to my liking. I have 4 feet of snow piled around my farm and a Civic that is just sitting there. I have two months until my farm will consume all of my free time. In the mean time I will play.

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Energy Miser

So there is nothing to be gained by removing the electrical generating load from the ICE in my car? I don't buy that.

Good. There's a real, quantifiable benefit. By my math, an alternator + combustion engine is 12.5% efficient at turning gasoline into 12VDC, so .125*33kWh/gal = .25 gal saved for each kWh you don't need to generate onboard.

However, if you run the numbers, I think you'll see you need a much larger deep-cycle battery.

[Energy Miser]

I'll just keep adding batteries until I can drive 70 miles or so without seeing the voltage drop on the starting battery. That is the furthest I would ever drive this car without being able to grid charge it. I will figure it out through trial and error. It takes 25 minutes or less to assemble a string of 4/3s and add them to the pack. I just don't want them getting crowded or touching. They do get warm when charging. I should probably just throw a pair of LA batteries in the trunk and call it a day.

[Varn]

At what point does the cost of foreign fuel offset the cost of foreign made batteries. Truely you scheme to convert batteries to 120v ac then back to 14vDC is inefficient.

From what I understand it is only politics that keep us from using US dino oil rather than Saudi dino oil. If you vote correctly you might be able to use US dino oil.

If you saved 28,000 in selling your land you have one mighty chunk of land (500,000). I only say this is perhaps you can cook wood or corn and use the gas that boils off it. The Japs did it in WW2.