Quote:
Originally Posted by sregord
Having read this forum, It seems that a cleverly automated or manual switch on the alternator power lead(off up hill&level-on downhill) could be a fuel saver…. 10% would bring this up to- wow -almost 9 mpg.
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Unfortunately it doesn't scale like that. Maybe disabling the alternator on a super efficient car like the Honda Insight could improve fuel economy by 10%, but electrical loads represent a smaller portion of total energy use in larger vehicles.
Kinda like how I could tell when my AC kicked on in my old and weak Subaru. AC represented a larger load on that vehicle than, say, my 7,000 lb Dodge Ram 2500 diesel.
That said, seems a worthwhile project since the solar is already installed and available to be utilized.