Virtual alternator delete.

[redpoint5]

How would you initiate the alternator turning on when the battery has dropped too low?

Let me know what you use for a voltage converter since it sounds like an interesting idea. I'd probably need something capable of 300 watts.

Here's a spreadsheet I started putting together a while back. The last tab titled "Cap Calculator" is handy for estimating what a supercap bank alone can do. If you input the farad rating of the caps, it calculates the total series capacitance and if you input the parasitic drain of your vehicle, it can estimate how many hours/days the vehicle can sit before it drains too much to start the vehicle. Just an interesting thought experiment. The spreadsheet can be modified if you download it to your computer.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

[teoman]

I can cut off the voltage converter to stop the charging of the caps, after which the alternator will take over.

It is also possible to add another coverter to charge the batteries when decelerating.

[Ecky]

FWIW, uesterday I drove to work without my 12v charging in my Insight. To charge the 12v I currently have the IMA motor hooked to a 3 phase rectifier (70-300v AC to 70-300v DC) and that to a Meanwell power supply to step the 70-300v DC down to ~14v DC. The difference in fuel economy between driving to work Wednesday morning with everything charging, vs Thursday with it unhooked and just using the battery's capacity, was less than 1%.

[teoman]

Interesting.

How many l/100 km or l/h was your consumption ?

Fuel quantity / distance or fuel quantity / time.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by teoman

Interesting.

How many l/100 km or l/h was your consumption ?

Fuel quantity / distance or fuel quantity / time.

My commute is around 12 miles each way, and I consistently get around 3.2L/100km on the way there (uphill) and 2.9L/100km on the way home (downhill), not driving very conservatively either way lately. Travel to work is ~05:30-05:50 and trip home is 13:00-13:25.

I notice a consistent ~0.25L/100km increase when lean burn is disabled for this trip, but toggling 12v charging on and off disappears into background noise.

EDIT: Before I took my hybrid system out, I was getting the same ~2.9L/100km on the way to work, but on the way home, due to opportunities for EoC, I could see as low as 2.5L/100km depending on traffic.

[teoman]

And may one inquire your guesstimated electrical load?

[Ecky]

The Meanwell power supply I have outputs up to 53 amps, and I currently have it set to ~14.0v. It's rated at typically 88% efficient, but I've bypassed its internal rectifier so it might be higher than that. The fan isn't supposed to come on until 35% load (+/- 15%) and for the most part it stays off, even when I'm blasting music. I often hear the fan pulsing when I run my turn signals (following the blink rate), roll down the windows, or have the HVAC system running plus headlights (low watt HIDs). So, if I were to guess, typically I'm drawing less than 20 amps during this drive, possibly less than 10 amps.

[teoman]

So 0.03 l /100 km for 120-200W

Roughly 0.2l/kWh.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by teoman

So 0.03 l /100 km for 120-200W

Roughly 0.2l/kWh.

No, not exactly. I haven't been able to measure a drop in economy. It disappears into background noise, it's zero within margin of error.

I'm sure it's not actually zero, of course, I just can't see it.

[teoman]

If those are the numbers it is not really worth doing for me.
Then again your converion ratio is close to optimal.