Official Thread for posting daily FE updates

[GasSavers_katman]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Congrats on the great tanks, guys. Is that a personal best for you too, katman?

I'd ditch the belt and go electric if it's a constantly "on" pulley. Some have clutch pulleys, don't they? My brother's Camaro had a hydrostatic fan pulley. The fan didn't exert much pressure until the fluid in the pulley heated up.

That's the way it is, but it's still a drag.

[XFi]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

In a pinch you could kick in the alternator - add a switch in the car on the dash to allow alternator charging should your battery get low or while braking - down hill etc - may as well save a little charging energy from the grid.
Yellow tops are about the best SLA batteries for what you are doing.

Wondering if I could get some advice in regards to that. I initially thought that I could just disconnect the 3 prong plug going to the alternator. Did that, but it still was charging. I had to also disconnect the feed to the battery for it to stop charging. Does it get it's 'signal' to charge from that feed to the battery?

Where would I install the switch. I do have a wiring diagram, but it doesn't tell me where the 'field' terminal is (only on the 'j' vin alternator). My manual does not list that for the Canadian manufactured Metros. I initially assumed that thats where I would tap the switch into ....If anyone has played around with this and has a solution, please let me know.

That would be ideal, I could even run without it at night/winter time until the voltage got too low.

[JanGeo]

Not sure what the result would be with the electronics but the brushes ultimately gets the field current so if you could tap into the alternator brush contact to interrupt it you could control it that way. However the regulator is probably inside the alternator so you should check for a remote sense wire going to the battery and either feed that a higher voltage or open up the high current wire from the alternator (usually fused) and couple it to a really high current switch. The field winding is a better idea.

Usually the alternator senses the voltage at the battery with a separate wire and regulates the voltage by varying the field current to keep the voltage at the battery constant. Trick would be to let it think it is high enough that way it is not trying to drive the field wire/brushes with current through the regulator and loosing power that way. This also lets you keep the high current wire connected. The easiest way to do this is to feed it higher voltage from a separate battery or power source making 14.x-15 volts - whatever it takes to shut down the field winding drive in the regulator.

[95metro]

50.28 mpg! Not entirely certain how I managed it, but I did it. I wasn't expecting that high at all!

My goal for a while has been to hit 20 km/L which is 46.7 mpg, but this time I nailed over 21 km/L...I was really surprised.

Changes since last tank:

Tires at 40 psi (up to 43 psi during hot weather)
Snorkel removed from air intake
Shifting pattern back to 10, 30, 40, 50. In hot weather I managed 10, 25, 35, 45 (oh right, those are in km/h)
Nine days of very warm weather (21-31°C), but average temp (since may 14) was only 15.979°C/60.762°F
Still not doing nearly as much pulse and glide or engine off as I'd like to be doing.

EDIT: Plus around 40 km/25 miles of rural highway driving at 80 km/h on a gorgeous 25°C day. The rest of the mileage (451 km/280 miles) is city.

[MetroMPG]

Woohoo! Another personal best. Congratulations.

[95metro]

One other thing I forgot to mention - I've been driving without DRLs for the majority of this last tank. One click on the handbrake and they're off.

[Silveredwings]

Oh man I wish I could turn off the DRLs that easily in my Passat.

On another note, I drove it on a short round-trip last night (about 1 hr, 45 min). I averaged 34.3 mpg out and 39.7 back (loaded up with about 250 lb of stuff and the AC on part of the way). That's a personal best for me with that car. I'm almost up to 2 x EPA (21). I really do have to quit driving on those snow tires though.

[95metro]

Originally Posted by Silveredwings

Oh man I wish I could turn off the DRLs that easily in my Passat.
*snip*
I'm almost up to 2 x EPA (21). I really do have to quit driving on those snow tires though.

MetroMPG has some sort of switch rigged to turn off his. My handbrake-switch was/is a Metro-only feature I think.

2x EPA? Nice!

[MetroMPG]

My hand brake is too new to use the "one-click" method - it puts the brakes on slightly, even with a slight pull. So I added a switch in the circuit that turns the parking brake dash light on (that circuit controls our DRLs).

I use my headlights during the day more selectively now. In some urban & highway settings, depending mainly on the amount of traffic, I run with lights. But probably more than half the time they're off.

[JanGeo]

DRL must be a canada thing ay - some cars have them but only a few types VW and Volvo I think. 120 watts is not too much power. Maybe some secondary bulbs with lower wattage or LEDs!