Alternator questions

[mach1soldier]

Anyone know if it's possible to wire in a switch to a 1991 ford festiva alternator to disable it? Or is it always on regardless?

My other question is, can I pull the alternator wires and run the car without issues?

Before you go "what in the hell", I'm trying to get a little better gas mileage out of the car. I have a couple spare batteries now and a solar charger. So there really isn't any reason not to try it out. I was getting way better gas mileage when the belt broke.

[eurotiva]

If you do, I'd say just make sure the ends are out of harms way, and capped, so nothing grounds out. I'm sure a switch could be wired too.

Makes sense, they take power to make power

[zoom zoom]

Unless you disable the belt the drag will always be there. I'm sure you could use a relay to wire in a toggle switch to kill power output though.

[jayber]

Advantage from removing wires from alternator wont overcome the extra battery weight.
BTW never disconnect wires from alternator with engine running. Diodes dont like that. I know people do it all the time and seem they never have problem (Im guilty as well to make sure alt is charging) but again it shortens the life of the alternator according to manufactors

[Movin]

Put a switch on the wire going to the brushes inside the alternator..no spike, no damage. Put a cap on a switch outside the alternator, it will reduce the spikes and help protect the alternator electronics.

An alternator on average produces less than one hp of power but due to mechanical losses it will consume somewhat over 1 hp depending on how much your system needs.

This may not seem like a lot because out engines can produce around 60 hp depending on age, altitude and a host of variables. BUT..we rarely use that during normal driving. We only need about 5 to 10 hp to drive in traffic around town. More on Parkways, maybe all 60 from stoplight to stoplight, but never if using hyper mile techniques. Interstates will take a fairly constant hp depending on constant speed from 55 mph to 80 mph. That will be around 10-15 hp up to around 40-50 hp.

There are obviously a lot of variables but looking at those figures it is apparent that in town an alternator is a fairly large portion of the hp needed to run, large enough for the OP to notice power and mileage. I would really be interested in seeing this proceed with our assistance!!

[htchbck]

I was getting way better gas mileage when the belt broke.

This is the part I'm curious about... how far were you able to drive it without the water pump?

[william]

^ I was guna ask the same thing lol.
I thought wow no one caught that.

[jayber]

A hotter engine runs more efficiently so further he drove more mpg he was getting

[Movin]

I took that to mean the belt broke and stopped every thing but the way it is written it is hard to tell what he tried and what exactly happened. Those old 200 mpg carbs were vapor carbs, so with super synthetic oil that prevents heat seizure we run with no coolant or belts, the heat vaporizes fuel in the injectors and we get 200 mpg's...lol!

[bhazard]

Unless you disable the belt the drag will always be there. I'm sure you could use a relay to wire in a toggle switch to kill power output though.

True but the drag is greatly reduced with no alternator load

Advantage from removing wires from alternator wont overcome the extra battery weight.
BTW never disconnect wires from alternator with engine running. Diodes dont like that. I know people do it all the time and seem they never have problem (Im guilty as well to make sure alt is charging) but again it shortens the life of the alternator according to manufactors

Depends on how much weight, but typically there are always gains. Its a popular mod over at ecomodder. Weight doesn't effect highway mileage much.

[harpon]

Maybe the most efficient thing would be a way to engage the alternator belt when the car has built up momentum, or especially down long descents. I'm sure the alternator, belted or not, is using more fuel when accelerating or climbing, so if you could weed out those moments, you'd get the heart of the gain.

I typically turn off my A/C when starting a hard acceleration for the same reason, beyond I can feel the difference in power then.

I've always wanted a small electric motor on the rear wheels of a Festy, and a small bank of batteries in the back- to power the car slow speeds in parking lots, at drive throughs or backed up traffic. You could really up the mileage if you could turn the motor off all those times you are at say 20 mph or less. Then just recharge those batteries at home, or regen with an alternator of their own, or one that switches between front and rear batteries.

I think the price of car batteries has been inflated artificially by the oil driven conglomerate- A car battery was 20 or 30 dollars most of my life- now 100 is getting typical-

and I personally think it's to push electric use back even further, and make driving more under economic influences.

Below- the old '88- sold in 2011 with 275 K miles-
that house was torn down in FEMA floodplain buy-out

[mach1soldier]

Thanks for the advice and help everyone. I'm going to put a switch on at first to see how it helps.

I drove around 55 miles without the belt. I made it 15-20 miles at a time before the car started to get hotter then I would like.

I'm considering making an electric driven water pump so I can ditch the drive belt as well. With how easy the festiva is to put a belt on, I could just reconnect it for long trips.

For those wondering about charging / battery costs, I am currently trickle charging batteries in my garage. I might as well be using them.

[Movin]

Smoky Yunick .. Put a propeller where the pulley is and mount the alt on the front bumper..free energy, right?