Electric superchargers? hmm

[UZZ30]

Ive seen these electric superchargers around. They seem rather gimmicky to me... apparently they make up to 1psi boost and 5% more power


Anyone had experience in these things?

http://www.electricsupercharger.com/

who thinks they are an absolute waste of time?

[Dell'Orto]

Yep, they're crap. Plenty of info around on them and how ineffective they are.

[rxtoy]

damn, i'm going to have to do an 'apparently' post!!!

anyway, 'apparently' because of the amount of power they need to suck to make any decent sort of boost you need to run a bigger alternator which pretty much just sucks it right back out.

cheers
Matt

[UZZ30]

Yeah, they use so much power and would be so noisy

[Adamal]

'Tis all lies lies porky pies!

Think of it this way: Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It can only be changed.

[Leon]

About a 9.7 on BS-ometer

[Mr GTZ]

They dont do shit. You'd have to be pretty gullible to pay for one....!!!

[1598cc]

yeh those ones are shit.

a while back i got my hands on a electric turbo, was about the size of a t04 and flowd around the same as a td04. never got round to using it but it would have worked quite well id say.

[Chickenman]

They aren't total bullshit...

Testing has shown the smaller the engine, the higher the sustainable boost. If a 3.5-liter engine is running 24v, boost will peak at 10 psi at 2000 rpm and then drop off to 3 psi at 6500 rpm. A 1750cc engine would make 10 psi at 4000 rpm while dropping off to 3 psi at 13,000 rpm. The boost drop is linear, so that 1750cc engine would make 7-8 psi at redline, and launch at 15 psi using 24 volts. If a blow-off valve is used to bleed off excess pressure, a steady sustainable boost is possible until the capacity of the supercharger is reached. This means that a prepared 1.6-liter four-cylinder can run a sustained 15 psi at 36 volts to 6000 rpm.

http://www.turbomagazine.com/tech/0406tur_knight/

[Mr GTZ]

Its just not the same as the mechanical devices. How many batteries would you need, to develop the power needed to do a 7 sec pass....!!! I say its the queer eye version of induction systems...!!!

[neon_spork]

A guy in the states who was origonally from dargaville has made an electric car that can do a 7 second pass, i was reading about it in the paper the other day. Its based on the atom but uses a brushless electric motor with a fancy controller. Develops maxium torque at 0 rpm and hold it to 10,000 or something like that...

[neon_spork]

Here's a link to something about it..
http://www.autoblog.com/2005/11/19/electric-car-thrashes-ferrari-and-porsche/

[Mr GTZ]

Nothing on the site about a 7 sec car but good article. I'd still like to see where you'd get with an electric supercharger on a mechanical engine though.

[Stealer Of Souls]

http://www.boosthead.com/home.php

Thomas Knight Turbo ESC...

Can't run any real electric charger from an alternator... even a 200 amp alternator would catch fire... You need around 200amp @ 24V to even stand a real chance...
Only possible way at this time is dedicated battery supply... and even then max run time is around 60 seconds continuous before batteries are complete ka-put...

[Adamal]

Hmm... Perhaps a FAQ on the Electric Supercharger with facts as to why it would prove pointless would be in order? This topic seems to show its ugly head every so often...

[Stealer Of Souls]

Hmm... Perhaps a FAQ on the Electric Supercharger with facts as to why it would prove pointless would be in order? This topic seems to show its ugly head every so often...

Tee hee.. Gotta be careful with comments like that.
The TKT ESC is a good product with plenty of backup info. And there is no reason to believe that any of his claims are from Mars.

But yes. It would be good to get all the "reality TV" facts down, as most of the Electric Superchargers out there are nothing more than a waste of money. (Although the ESC is almost in that catagory since it'd cost about $3.5k landed in NZ... Watch this space as I'm saving to buy one...)

[Adamal]

Yes, but its not a constant power supply like a turbo or supercharger is. It states that quite clearly in their FAQ

Why only short bursts?

Think of these batteries as your Nitrous tanks. Like Nitrous, the ESC's instant boost is currently limited in duration, but unlike Nitrous, that restriction will gradually disappear as battery technology improves. Eventually, high-volume capacitors will allow for almost perpetual usage. Until then, a typical battery bank will yield several runs before recharge. And unlike Nitrous, our system will not cost you thousands of dollars in long-term refilling expenses. Most Nitrous users go through at least 1 bottle/week, and at $30 to $45 per bottle, that's a hidden charge of $1,560 a year, every year, forever. Think about it! With our system, you will never deal with costly refills again.

They then go on to say:

No more refills?

Well, not quite. There is no such thing as free energy. Even our system needs to be recharged, but in this respect, the universal, open-ended design allows for hundreds of ways to do so. It could be as simple as hooking up to a regular battery charger in your garage twice a week, or as futuristic as solar panels. You can upgrade to a high-output alternator like those that power competition audio systems in the future. With a 200-amp alternator, you'll fully recharge quickly while the ESC™ is off. So while you're waiting in the staging lanes or cruising along the strip, you can relax and hurl insults at the Nitrous guys while your system preps for another power burst of awesome boost.

And this has to be my favourite:

There's more than enough power to remind those high school kids with the neon muffler bearings who their daddy is.

Or you could get a real forced induction system

[UZZ30]

The part that makes me laugh is that for the standard model its $300 USD to the apparently better model is $600 USD... Think of all the other stuff you could do to your car for that kind of money, plus and exhaust or something would actually do something!