Battery charging- MPG improvements

[sly]

+1 reducing load
it's been proven time and again. lighten the load (remove the junk in the trunk... clean out the car... remove unneeded clutter... knock the 3 inches of mud off the bottom... etc) and reduce the electrical load as stated above and you're well on your way to better mileage AND quarter mile times.

[TomO]

Gentlemen,
Need some input from some electrical smart guys out there. I have done some electrical work in the past (wind turbines, not cars). I was thinking about putting some solar panels on my dash and/or back deck and wiring them to the battery IOT reduce load on the alternator and alternator charging time. Less alternator charging= better mileage. Some guys on eco-modder are getting 3-5% better mileage by installing an alternator cut-out switch. I was thinking this might be good for a few percent improvement. Any thoughts?

I'm not an expert, but if you're thinking of using solar cells, then my thought would be to add several high-capacity batteries into your system. That way, when the car is sitting out in the driveway or in a parking lot, the solar cells would be able to store up more power since the additional batteries would give you more capacity for storing electrical power. That way, your alternator will not run as much, thus lessening drag on the engine.

However, on the other hand, the additional batteries will add weight to the vehicle. I don't know if this would offset any benefits provided by the additional batteries.

I guess it would depend on whether you drive in very hilly country, and/or whether you do a lot of stop and go driving.

It would be interesting to see if your idea would result in better fuel mileage.

[Drew89]

why is one so concerned with saving a few dollars here and there when driving a cheap low-ish mpg car. We are saving money yearly on not having a car thats constantly loosing $ 1,000's of dollars in depreciation . Im saving tons just driving my beast into the ground with reg oil changes and normal parts.

[SVT98t]

Low mileage? Maybe for you.
I consider it a challenge!

-ryan s.

[sly]

I wanna put an ecoboost v6 in my 88 and sww how good that milage would be. probably be in the 30s.

[SVT98t]

Hmmmm. Sounds like it could work. Maybe a 4.6L..............
:p

-ryan s.