Does this steal MPG?

[RandomFact314]

Well, if you look at my fuel graph, you can see I get a pretty constant 30.3-30.6 MPG, the EPA on my car is 25, my goal is 35 so I just wanted to see if I can start doing small things, like running my radio less to help get a little closer. In about 2 or 3 days I'm going to try acetone in my car and about 8 or 9 days after that I will make a new thread for people to see my results. I don't plan on using acetone all the time because it honestly makes me really nervous about putting it in my car but I will do it once and if the results are really good I may do it once every 5 fill ups or something along those lines.

[Ernie Rogers]

To Noob:

Keeping in mind that I am mostly guessing on the accessories, that 250 watt guess was mostly for defrost. I could imagine doubling that for AC on a hot day. In a VW, the AC load is less when you have the fan on low. People see very little if any drop in mileage in a VW with AC and fan in the lowest position--it doesn't hurt the system either. Personally, I usually just drive with the AC off. That always worked when I was young and didn't have AC.

My recollection is that head lights are 90 watt bulbs. Add tail lights and all the other stuff and it is probably close to 250 watts total.

Now, about correcting for inefficiency of the alternator--I did divide by net power, after losses (the 6 kW). That means I was assuming 85% efficiency at the alternator, as with the engine and mechanicals. Remember that the alternator is always spinning and when you add a load, it is a marginal increase, which should be counted at a higher efficiency. (Much of the alternator losses are fixed, I think.)

Unchosen could easily be right that you should add a multiplier on the accessory numbers I got.

Ernie

Originally Posted by theunchosen

I forget the OP topic but the engine is stealing some power for ingition and other functions.

These don't look like very major differences with them on but something Ernie accidently dropped is your alt is nowhere near 100% efficient. On a good day its 60-75%. So it takes anywhere from 30-50% more power from the engine to make those watts. The more you draw the bigger the problem. Like I said that 200w in your cigarette lighter is going to be more like 300-350 watts(.4-.5 hp).

Also adding a few of those functions together and its serious gas mileage(for quick and easy just add 1/3 more than what it cost originally to account for ALT inefficiencies).

[Ernie Rogers]

I think if your car is fairly new, the acetone won't work because a well-functioning engine achieves about 98% complete combustion. Then where will the extra energy come from?

Ernie

Originally Posted by HypermilingNoob

Well, if you look at my fuel graph, you can see I get a pretty constant 30.3-30.6 MPG, the EPA on my car is 25, my goal is 35 so I just wanted to see if I can start doing small things, like running my radio less to help get a little closer. In about 2 or 3 days I'm going to try acetone in my car and about 8 or 9 days after that I will make a new thread for people to see my results. I don't plan on using acetone all the time because it honestly makes me really nervous about putting it in my car but I will do it once and if the results are really good I may do it once every 5 fill ups or something along those lines.

[theunchosen]

I don't think acetone is a good idea either. . . It vaporizes much much faster than gasoline and is much more combustible when it does. In short Acetone I can promise you is making your engine a bigger candidate for pre-ignition. Its why racers use alcohols instead of ketones to make their fuels more compression friendly. The keto groups all vaporize and burn readily, whereas alcohols take a little more effort.

The thing Acetone will add mileage for is its replacing fuel and making your engine less powerful. It honestly is just like dividing your miles by a little extra uncounted fuel when people post results(so if they add a gallon of acetone(way too much for me) they get miles divided by 9 gallons instead of normal 10, which artificially boosts results.)

You could definitely see better results from disconnecting as much load from the alt as possible. And thats very easy and very safe. If it uses Juice and you don't need it turn it off. Wanna go all out start removing the pieces. Electronics usually ambiently drain electricity. Yank speakers, radio face, wiring, air con, belt for air con, cooling fan for coolant fins, coolant fins, piping for fins, yank the compressor itself, you know they get more complicated as the list goes but not terribly more complicated.