Has anyone thought about putting a beast of a capacitor inline with the battery for extra power on start-ips and heavy elecrtical loads like power windows?

I was thinking about getting a new beast of a battery and a large capacitor for my car...

 

can you do that? won't your starter/window motors hate you and show their disgust by emitting a fowl odor with smoke?

 

A capacitor would eliminate the voltage drop when you try to start the car (ie. the lights dimming.) It should also make the car start right up, without trouble

 

I don't remember too much about capacitors from physics, but doesn't it increase the amps while mainting the same voltage? That is what I was thinking might be bad for the motors, that sudden surge in amperage.

 

A capacitor is able to store a small amount of energy, but can discharge instantly, effectively eliminating momentary voltage drops

 

does it make you travel back in time like the flux capacitor

 

Only if I can get my LS to 87mph

 

its funny because your sig looks like the delorean does when its starting to travel back in time with the lightning going around it

 

Dont forget the flaming tires!

 

its 88MPH

 

My speedo isnt perfectly accurate, gawd

 

Ok...check out the current version of Modified Mag...they have something that looks like a capacitor from some company...claims it "smooths out" the electrical surges in the system, and they dyno'ed it as adding around 5hp. On a Cobalt. Even they said it sounded like snake oil, but tested out on the dyno. (Still seems hard to believe)

I'll see if I can post the details when I can get back to the magazine...

 

i wasnt talking about adding hp, i just wanted a more smooth electrical system overall

but thats cool (and wierd)

 

you could do the capacitor route but like you said...it lets its juice go in a second.. your cars electrical system should be fine for startup. if you loose enough juice on startup that you cant put your windows down...its time for a dealership run cause your battery is f'ed. i also saw that power adder thing. the hyper ground unit. i dont know but it sound kinda wierd to me

 

Upgrade to a Optima Yellow-Top!!

 

You could add a capacitor in parallel with the battery. But unless you have some aftermarket device that requires high momentary surges of current (subwoofer) there's not much else a capacitor would help you with.

The battery in the car is designed to provide the low duration high current that the starter motor requires, and adding a capacitor would be redundant.

Also, isn't the system wired so that when the starter is cranking, all other accessories are shut off, so that the starter gets all the available power...?

Most of the draw on the car's electrical system while it's running are relatively constant current devices, radio, lights, fan, etc. A capacitor really won't do you much good unless you need short pulses of high current for some device.

 

Ok, I pulled my copy of Modified out of the trash. This is the October 2006 issue. On page 114 and 115 in the "Proving Grounds" section they dyno'ed a product called the Automobile Electrical Energy Chip Regulator. The thing LOOKS like a big capacitor.

The dyno company was TAG Racecraft.

With dyno run after dyno run, they were surprised to see +3 Whp, and +5 to torque. This was on a Cobalt SS/SC.

Even the mag article writer said this whole thing sounded like snake oil, but the results were apparently consistent...if you trust Modified Mag....

the product is by Evil Auto Style (no joke) www.evilautostyle.com. I looked at their site...they have a catalog written in horrible english available for download. Looks like they are a wholesaler at present. Probably an Asian company judging by the grammar in the catalog.

The URL of the dyno company was www.tagracecraft.com

 

Aftermarket power caps have been around forever. They are perfectly safe. I want to put in parallel with my electrical box under the hood to try and solve the voltage drop that occurs when you suddenly apply full throttle. I think it might help with the hesitation issues.

 

Finally someone agrees

 

and its halfcent so he counts for more than 1

 

I reguard Halfcent as the Cobalt 2.2 Auto God, and NJHK as the ECOTEC god

 

Oh another thing, that actually might make a bigger difference in the Cobalt because the battery is mounted in the trunk, and the cables are longer going to the front which = higher resistance.

 

first thing i did, pulled it from my old car and put the tiny cobalt battery in the chrysler.

 

How much better is the optima battery???? Im looking into doing some upgrades due to my large sound system. Im currently running a 3 farad cap and a 1500 watt amp. I dont turn it up loud but still im concerned with damaging my battery and alternator. What do you guys suggest to prevent that kind of damage?