Installed Voltage Booster=Slower Car?

[TurboBuRick]

A electric motor/generator is in no way shape or form anything like reciprocating combustion engine. Your way out in left field.

No comparison.

Sounds like the burnt varnish is getting to you.

 

[A2000RICH]

A electric motor/generator is in no way shape or form anything like reciprocating combustion engine. Your way out in left field.

No comparison.

Sounds like the burnt varnish is getting to you.

reciprocating/rotating electrical is not the issue-------obviously you don't grasp electrical/hydraulic/mechanical analogs------- you dont seem to learn well when you have a good opportunity to do so------years of lecturing have taught me to know when the class is up to grade and i can see you are not-------i'll just let it go............RC

 

[jasjamz]

Rich what is your explanition for all the alternator failures? I have one but am scared to use it on any GN.

 

[Darkcyde]

1. take your stock alternator, get the upgrade kit for it from turbobuicks(dot)com
2. get a low gauge wire to connect from the battery to the alty
3. check and clean all grounds
4. ADD grounds, we as GN abusers had all kinds of electric components to our cars, the least we can do is add $20 worth of ground cables. because of the heavy electric demands of many import cars, adding grounds is very common.
5. forget the scan master, its like $200 just save another $800 and have full tuning capability with F.A.S.T. classic (cheap now that xfi is out).
6. BORROW a scanmaster in the mean time though if possible

other then that I'm no expert, just sharing what I did

 

[SloGN]

WoW


I didn't know that a volt booster slows the car down?




You know whats funny about every kind of car that has a analong gauges in them seem to have a range from say 10-16 volts.

if putting 16 volts on a car hurts them why would the manufacture have a gauge that reads that much voltage.



kinda makes ya wonder huh.

 

[TurboBuRick]

For the same reason your coolant temp gauge goes to 240f. To give you fair warning.

 

[A2000RICH]

Rich what is your explanition for all the alternator failures? I have one but am scared to use it on any GN.

lets see----what could be the reason that we are having a "rash" of alternator failures------i'll take a stab at that question------i will provide quite a number of reasons-------first i will start by saying that the alternator on my daily driver gn failed just last week-------second time its failed------considering that it has about 290k on the odo i really don't fault it--------it didn't have a volt booster on it------it was just slam wore out-------replaced the brushes and turned the commutator, put it back on and it'll likely be good for another 150k-------these cars are all 20+ years old and its just natural for things on the car to fail--------will a volt booster increase failure-------it could but the percentage would be pretty minimal-------an alternator is a wear part just like brake pads-------it has bearings and sliding brushes that have a definitive life------sooner or later they are going to fail voltbooster or no voltbooster---------the semiconductors are not going to last forever even though we would not consider them to be wear parts but thermal cycling extremes do take their toll--------so reason ONE is most of the alts in use are old to begin with and they are not getting any younger--------reason TWO is because many of the alternators have been rebuilt--------the alternator shop where i buy my parts has over 20 different regulators that will fit in the GN alternator and the variety is not just because he sells 4 different brands in addition to delco--------some of them are just plain junk------about a year ago i bought a sample of every one of them and tested them--------and thats just regulators-------enough said about junk non OEM parts--------reason THREE-------many of the alternators have been replaced by aftermarket units-------most of these are hyped as "high output"--------many of them are not so good as well because they are made of inferior parts-------i see alot of them suffer "infant mortality"-------someone that frequents my shop had this happen just a month ago only a few days after installing it------he took it back and the warranty replacement seems to be holding up ok------even so i have to say from observation i see few aftermarket alternators that seem to last as long as the original GM ones---------i simply can't blame that on volt boosters--------reason FOUR-------a lot of failures related to alternators in our cars is related to the charge indicator circuit-------the idiot light and that darn flexible circuit board in the dash is a simply a time bomb-------if yours hasn't failed consider yourself lucky and wait your turn------can't blame that on the volt boosters--------Reason FIVE------not only are our alternators old but the wiring in our cars is old--------lots of marginal connections that cause problems-------i deal with it on a weekly basis with the number of cars that come through my shop-------reason SIX------many owners are confused by the single wire that runs from the alt plug into the dash--------adding a voltbooster increases the complexity of what is actually a very simple circuit-------i dont blame the volt booster/ i blame the owner for problems related to installation and maintenance---------look at all the threads that have been started over the years by folks that are confused by these simple devices---------reason SEVEN-------human nature causes us to dislike things we don't understand-------its like news-------someone has trouble with a voltbooster for whatever reason and word of it spreads like wildfire------few folks start a thread that says "put a voltbooster on my car and now my car goes faster because i now have more fuel delivery" yet that is the norm not the exception--------ignorance of physics and electrical theory is very prevelant in our society--------it just kills me when i see folks suggesting that a 200 or 300 amp or whatever alternator is somehow a solution to electrical needs on one of our cars---------lets go back to the science and ohms law---------if you have a fuel pump that draws 20 amps and you power it with a 120 amp alternator how much more fuel will it provide if you power it from a 250 amp alternator???-------the question does not provide enough information to arrive at an answer-----the info needed is "what voltage does the alternator provide"-------a 120 amp alternator can provide much more fuel from that same pump if its output voltage is 16 volts than a 250 amp alternator can if its output voltage is only 14 volts--------since current flow increases with an increase of voltage the power (work done) goes up by the square--------the output of the pump will increase its work done by nearly 30% with a voltage increase of only 15%------(do the math if you can, i explained how it works in one of my first posts on this thread)--that 2 volts is going to do little to harm your alternator but its going to do wonders for your fuel delivery---------the term "high output alternator" should actually be understood as "high potential output" since without an increase in terminal voltage it is not ever likely to be able to provide any increase in power--------i would spend my money on a volt booster over a higher amperage rated alternator any day.............RC

 

[turbo nasty]

Interesting I wonder if we could get a adjustable volt reg slap it in a alt that would handle the load and set it for say around 15vdc if that would help as well?

 

[TurboBuRick]

reciprocating/rotating electrical is not the issue-------obviously you don't grasp electrical/hydraulic/mechanical analogs------- you dont seem to learn well when you have a good opportunity to do so------years of lecturing have taught me to know when the class is up to grade and i can see you are not-------i'll just let it go............RC

Mr. Clark,
We are all hear to share information. Please do not insult my intelligence.

Apples to apples, a alternator without a vb will outlast one with. That is a fact whether you want to believe it or not. I don't care how much you pound that keyboard, this is a real world fact. Most of us hear know this from experience not theory.

IMO (and I'm sure most hear will agree) The best thing to do is make sure your alternator is doing it's job in maintaining 14-14.5v.

 

[robertmee]

Mr. Clark,
A alternator without a vb will outlast one with. That is a fact whether you want to believe it or not.

Can you provide a link to the study that shows this? Something with empirical evidence and not anecdotal?

 

[A2000RICH]

Interesting I wonder if we could get a adjustable volt reg slap it in a alt that would handle the load and set it for say around 15vdc if that would help as well?

easy to do but not a good idea-------the electrical system in a car is a delicately balanced system-------everything you change affects everything else------sometimes good/sometimes bad--------sure you could adjust the regulator reference to set the alt at 15 volts-------thats essentially what a volt booster does only it does it on demand only when you need it--------that is as easy as putting a diode across the L and S terminals----the 4 pin plug is PLFS-----only the L is used in the GN but they are all active-------P is the tach output------L is the charge lamp circuit-----F is a control signal and S in the remote sense-------put the anode on L and cathode on S------for every diode you add you get an increase of about 3/4 volt-----stack them in series till you get what you want-------problem is that a alternator that outputs 15 volts all the time will quickly boil your battery and kill it in short order---------many modern cars have the advantage of letting the microprocessor control charge voltage-------they can automatically adjust the alt voltage for varying conditions-----they adjust for load, temp and batt state of charge etc-----(nothing more than an intelligent volt booster)-------high voltage/current right after starting the car and tapering things off as the battery is charged--------our cars didn't get that advantage since the computers were so limited.............RC

 

[SloGN]

easy to do but not a good idea-------the electrical system in a car is a delicately balanced system-------everything you change affects everything else------sometimes good/sometimes bad--------sure you could adjust the regulator reference to set the alt at 15 volts-------thats essentially what a volt booster does only it does it on demand only when you need it--------that is as easy as putting a diode across the L and S terminals----the 4 pin plug is PLFS-----only the L is used in the GN but they are all active-------P is the tach output------L is the charge lamp circuit-----F is a control signal and S in the remote sense-------put the anode on L and cathode on S------for every diode you add you get an increase of about 3/4 volt-----stack them in series till you get what you want-------problem is that a alternator that outputs 15 volts all the time will quickly boil your battery and kill it in short order---------many modern cars have the advantage of letting the microprocessor control charge voltage-------they can automatically adjust the alt voltage for varying conditions-----they adjust for load, temp and batt state of charge etc-----(nothing more than an intelligent volt booster)-------high voltage/current right after starting the car and tapering things off as the battery is charged--------our cars didn't get that advantage since the computers were so limited.............RC

chrysler has had that technology for several yrs. They also had a temp sensor that mounted in the battery tray that measures the outside battery temp.