My shop teacher told me that it is possible to re wire your alternator and add a switch to it so that you can shut down your alternator when you want, for racing or what ever he said that their are significant power gains when you do thsi becasue of the amount of force it takes to turn an alternator. Has any one ever herd of this and is it possible =?

 

i dont think that would reduce the drag caused by the alt but yes u can do it but u typically do it when ur regulator went out and you are too cheap to replace it so you just toggle your alt on and off so you keep charged but dont fry the batt.

 

I doubt "significant."

JamesC

 

Agreed.
A little math here: let's say your car uses 15 amps to run (ignition, ECM, dash etc), it takes about 0.25 HP from the engine to the alternator to generate the 15 amps to keep the battery charged. So if you flip a switch to make the alternator stop charging, you gain QUARTER of a horsepower.
Your shop teacher was THEORETICALLY right but practically it's not worth it.

If you are still convinced that it will help you win races, I can tell you where exactly to put the switch (if you twist my arm ).

Lou

 

thanks but yeah if you could tell me it could be fun to try and see how well it works or if it doesnt at all

 

Under the dash, locate the FAN fuse and the brown wire that goes from the fuse to the C100 connector. If you interrupt this wire with a switch, you'll be controlling the charging of your alternator.

However, if you interrupt this wire, your fans will stop working (when the switch is off). So don't forget to turn it back on after.

Lou

 

i think you misunder stood me i wsant interested in shuting off my interior lights i was wondering if its possible to shut down teh alternator so that it spins freely so that it does not create any strain on the engine

 

Heh?

JamesC

 

Double heh?

I wasn't talking about any lights. Read my post again, it mentions the Fan/Alternator fuse/circuit. It doesn't control any lights, don't worry. Interrupting this circuit will shut off ONLY your fans and alternator.

Lou

 

if you wanted to get power and speed well u should first liten the fat lady up. these cars have many things to pull out that liten the load. and second u could pull that engine fan out and put in an dual blade electric fan and that will let the engine out and let roar a few extra ponies