Civic EPES: Alternator Delete Project (with additional lithium battery...)

[mans]

i wonder if this one Motorized BIKE GAS ENGINE parts - LED Head Light blue | eBay is as powerful as a car headlight, if it is near or at a conventional headlamp's power, then two to four of them should do the trick

-with some modifications to make it look normal that is ...

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

I'm not sure I understand you completely. The stock corner bulbs and tail lights on our Civics are 20watts each. For relatively little $$ you could replace just the five tail/brake lights and reduce load by maybe 70 or 75 watts, correct? Of course the demand is not as constantly high as running the headlights. But the brake/tail light mod is what I did first, because I have to use the brake lights all the time, day or night.

BTW, re: raising the funding for it, I'll just share what I do when cash is tighter and I want/need something small like this that I am having difficulty justifying to myself or my wife. I cut something else I routinely budget for. I cut whatever it is for just for a short while, to "defray" the cost of the purchase. Just my method. I hope it helps.

I like the "cut something from regular budget" idea.

Anyway, for my own driving I'm not so concerned about brake lights because I don't spend that much time braking. But my corner lights are on whenever I run the headlights of course, so they are a constant draw, even though they're not 21W bulbs like the brakes..

Brake lights, 21W each (My center brake light is already LED)
Back up lights, 21W each
Front + rear corner lights, 5W each in my Volvo manual
(Looks like Civic front corners might be 8W each)
(I think Civic has 2 bulbs on each rear corner?
Turn signals, 21W each

Anyway, those corner lights are always on so I'm interested. Kinda interested in LED brake lights too; they total about 60W when lit, so they count.

[brucepick]

LED Headlights:

I am ignoring the LED headlights discussion. I am ignoring it because there is no way that an array of LEDs can give a properly formed beam when inserted into a system designed for a light source that very nearly a pinpoint in size.

Low beams need to have a severe cutoff above the horizontal plane to avoid blinding other drivers. That's a legal and a moral requirement. Never mind that some inexpensive aftermarket HIDs (different of course from LEDs) violate this daily.

High beams need to have a pencil shaped beam to put light out into the distance.

Neither of these is going to happen when the light source is the size of a Tootsie Roll, inserted in a system designed for a pinpoint light source.

That's not to say that you can't have an LED headlamp. But the housing, reflector and "bulb" have to be designed to work together. Not just be designed to FIT together.

[oil pan 4]

I wouldn't mess with LED low beams.
As far as high beams I say go nuts, just be sure to cut them off as soon as you encounter on coming traffic.

[jakobnev]

Can we get all the talk about LEDs out of this thread?

[mans]

these batteries are quite expensive.
i thought of a pair of 6v golf cart batteries wired for 12v would cut the $200 that a decent one costs

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by mans

these batteries are quite expensive.
i thought of a pair of 6v golf cart batteries wired for 12v would cut the $200 that a decent one costs

Yes they are pricey. Right now I'm considering an Odyssey PC1500 and a 25 amp Odyssey charger; about $275-ish for battery and $150 for charger.

I have some $$ from junking my old Volvo 240 so it will cover a good chunk of the cost.

However I'm not completely decided on this yet. I want to test whether the computer will allow lean burn with the alternator out of the circuit, running somewhere around 12V. If not, I might go with a smaller deep cycle battery that will fit in the standard under-hood location, just to handle EOC without losing as much voltage as my current (sorry for pun) starting battery. The PC1500 is 10.85 x 6.99 x 7.82 inches and 53 lb.; will have to go in the trunk. However, I'm pretty sure it would power the whole car's electrical system for several hours with no help at all from the alternator. I'd keep the alt installed, just switched off unless I need it to support a longer drive. Generally I expect to keep the battery charged from A/C, overnight.

Why get this? First off, it's AGM, so I can have it in the cabin/trunk without concern about hydrogen venting. The trunk is same as cabin as far as that safety issue is concerned.

Second, it gives a bit more voltage than a simple flooded battery due to the high purity lead and strong acid concentration - so in EOC the headlights will be brighter. Not same as when running at 14V with alternator, but better than with a regular 12V battery of any automotive size.

Third, overall quality is unusually high. High purity lead plates and strong, highly concentrated acid. Not made the least expensive way possible. It's a deep cycle battery. There are inexpensive flooded deep cycles but they're not AGM and won't give approx 400 cycles of deep discharge like this one is rated.

[oil pan 4]

If you are worried about low voltage not engauging lean burn why not make a higher voltage battery?
You could find a 6 and 8 volt battery from the same manufacturer that use the same cells just more or less of them in each battery and make your self a 14 volt battery.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

If you are worried about low voltage not engaging lean burn why not make a higher voltage battery?
You could find a 6 and 8 volt battery from the same manufacturer that use the same cells just more or less of them in each battery and make your self a 14 volt battery.

I'm trying to avoid that degree of home-brew. I found a nice 14V AGM battery but found only one on the market. XS Power D1400. Rated 50 AH. Cost with dedicated charger would be about the same as the ~12V Odyssey I described above. I hope to test for lean burn at 12V this week or maybe next weekend. Hard to get time for real world stuff; much easier to type on a keyboard :-)

[njlou]

Alternator vs. no alternator thread:

The use of a spare battery to reduce alt loading has merit.
I wonder if you could just manually switch the alt on/off as needed.

Late model BMWs shut off the alt when the battery reaches~80% charge.
Then the remaining 20% gets charged by putting the alt on when the brakes are applied or when the car decelerates.

This has a decelerating effect so you are actually "recovering" energy which goes to the battery.

Maybe you could do something similar - manually with a gauge and a switch???