Daox's 1997 Paseo Build Thread

[orange4boy]

I'd highly recommend this mod for anyone who can get their hands on a decent deep cycle battery.

I'll second that recommendation. The drag from the alternator is big and you can feel it in the throttle response and "in the seat of your pants". I think it's one of the simplest mods to try and gives one of the biggest bang for your buck, even if you just stick to 12V. "Just add deep cycle and watch your mileage grow."

I've gone over one year with the alternator removed from my vehicle and can't imagine going back.

Go Daox!

p.s. 12.6 is a normal resting voltage for a fully charged battery. The healthy range is 12.6 - 12.7 and sometimes a little higher if it's new.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

So, if you use the alternator switch to shunt out the alternator while you're driving and then turn it on, as it were, while you are coasting, would that let this work with the stock battery? I'm sure it depends on whether you do enough coasting, and you'd have to remember to do it each time...

For those running w/o the alternator even in the car, how do you charge the battery -- plug it in?

[MetroMPG]

I mostly use this mod in the summer, so I recharge with solar panels. It's feasible for me because I don't use the car every day. So drive without the alt one day, then it recharges the next day.

I drove about 30 km this evening (before it got dark - won't do it if I need headlights) with it disconnected.

[orange4boy]

I charge wherever I can by plugging in. I have a collection of chargers now and a collection of deep cycle batteries (for my electric motorcycles) so I load as many as I need for a trip. I got one pair for $49 each at Costco in September when they clear out their seasonal batteries.

So, if you use the alternator switch to shunt out the alternator while you're driving and then turn it on, as it were, while you are coasting, would that let this work with the stock battery?

Your idea of shutting off the alternator except in "regen" is a good one but tricky to implement, I would think. You would not get enough juice in regen to charge the battery but it would help the range a bit.

I calculated that the a $100 deep cycle battery would easily pay for itself in one year based on a 10% increase in mileage in my case. I'm getting more than 10% better MPG

[gascort]

Daox, I'd be interested to see results in A-B-A form just for 5 minutes of driving the same route.... You may remember my (and Orange4boy's) problems with only running a single 12V battery actually reducing FE - sensors, injectors, computer normally running at 14.5V gave us trouble.
In my case I removed the serpentine belt, so removing alt, P/S, and a/c. Should have been a hefty benefit, but I actually experienced slightly lower FE over my repeated tests. My solution is on the way - a 4V battery to run my computer and injectors in series with my deep cycle. You'll see my thread on testing next week
Nice work with the wiring for the field wire kill - very clean job. (as always for you)

[Daox]

I suppose A-B-A testing could be done with two batteries. Charge them both up, go for a drive, swap batteries/activate alternator, drive again, then swap back to the deep cycle. Unfortunately, I do not have cruise control on the car, so I can't do real accurate testing.

[gascort]

Good point. I'm planning testing this next week - doing B-A, B-A testing. Going to do one run with a full battery and the alternator running, then disconnect and do the same run.
...go home, charge battery, clean garage for awhile, then repeat. I'm going to do a city/highway route with plenty of full stops at lights requiring using the starter to restart.

[Daox]

Just a further update on the battery situation. When I first set it up, I would charge the battery a hour or so after I get home. The next day the battery voltage would already drop down to 12.4V. It stayed solidly at 12.4, but would just not hold a higher charge. So, about a week or so later I put an ebay special desulfator on it. It has been a month now, but the battery voltage is now staying around 12.7V. Previously, when I got home, my charger said my battery was down to 70% charge. Today when I put it on the charger, it said my battery was only down to 90%. So, the desulfator appears to be working.

[orange4boy]

Not to rain on your parade but a battery that does not hold a charge, if it's not too bad will recover somewhat just from use. I think the hardended crystals become dislodged and sink from repeated cycles. The desulfator may work but I wouldn't take your situation as proof. I still haven't see any scientific tests anywhere. The only way to really kow is to have two equally bad batteries with the exact same history desulfate and exercise one and just exercise the other. I suppose there may be some other variables to control for but you get my point.

But as I said before. It doesn't hurt to try and !'m happy your battery has come back.

I tried the desulfation setting on my charger several times with my old t-105s but they didn't seem to respond. I then just decided to use them as-is and they have recovered quite a bit. All just anecdotal though. Maybe the desuf got them started.

p.s. Just did a highway70mph/city run and got a little over 33mpg EPA hwy:20. It was a dirty run with all kinds of weird traffic so I think I can do much better.

[Daox]

I completely agree. This is not a scientific test situation at all. This shouldn't be taken as proof that desulfators work. This is just my experience. You are completely right that using a tired battery will bring it back to some extent too.

The reason I do comment, is because the last time I drove the Paseo (about a week ago), it was not holding a 12.7V charge. The battery has been on the desulfator all month long, not just during charging. It stays on the car and runs all the time. The car hasn't been in constant use lately at all. I usually drive it once or twice a week. But, when I first did the alternator disable I was driving the car every day that week and the week after and didn't notice much of a change to the battery during that time.