Here are pictures of my cheapo version :

https://home.earthlink.net/~cfg83/gas...pacitor_00.jpg

https://home.earthlink.net/~cfg83/gas...pacitor_01.jpg

https://home.earthlink.net/~cfg83/gas...structions.jpg

One reason why I didn't install it is that I tried to pry off it's side panel to see what was inside. I never got past plasti-solid red goop, so I just siliconed it back together. I think it will still work. It has a warning about avoiding humidity for long-term lifespan. What would that mean? I guess I should put it near something hot in the engine bay.

CarloSW2

DO they give you any proceedure about connecting it - normally a light bulb in series for the initial charging would be suggested to eliminate the initial current surge which can damage internal components. ON my scooter caps I charge them up to as much as 60 volts so needless to say I have some high wattage resistors to charge them up or I connect a 12 volt brake light bulb to each 12 volt battery tap to bring it up to full voltage one battery at a time.

That crummy piece of paper is all I got (el cheapo). Sorry it's not too readable, but I didn't want to make the image too big for webpage downloading. It just says RED wire to + and Blue wire to - battery terminal. So your saying I need to charge it up? I don't really understand your description of safe installation using the brake light bulbs. Are you saying you have 2 batteries or you are attaching to the positive and negative lead of one battery?

One thing I should have mentioned is that I purchased it with a set of grounding wires (another $24). There are NO instructions for attaching those, but could they be part of the "system" of installation, where they help to protect the gizmo and the battery and the car electrical system? I say no because you can purchase both of these things individually elsewhere.

Now I'm scared to attach it (again) :eek: .

Cautious CarloSW2

You connect the negative to the negative and the light bulb between the positive and the battery positive and you should see the bulb flash for a fraction of a second and then go dim. That charges the Caps in the unit with the 12 volts from the battery instead of a big spark and current surge if you connected it directly to the battery. This would result in a momentary short across the battery and end up spiking your entier electrical system whic would not be good for it.

You would connect the bulb brass base to the units positive wire holding it in your fingers and the bottom contact of the bulb will connect to the battery positive until the light goes out. Then connect the wire to the positive right away before the unit can self discharge. If the unit is shorted the bulb will stay on bright and burn your hands if you are not careful. If that happens then don't connect to the battery. If it happens to contain a set of UltraCaps it may take a few minutes for the bulb to go out.

JanGeo -

Thank you very much. Would it be even safer to do this with the battery disconnected from the electrical system?

I wonder if they make "super safe batteries" that already have this stuff built-in.

CarloSW2

Most batteries are "OK" to run most regular system loads but a little help can improve things sometimes. Disconnecting the battery from the rest of the car will end up resetting things like the radio antitheft and maybe the ECU - not really recomended if you don't have to. Best to just charge it up like I suggested. Or connect to a spare car battery and see what happens.

Definately unhook the battery. Safety first!

I have build my onw stabilizers, they are only made with few capacitors,
it really works with my Nissan TIIDA/Versa, which indeed unsing electric
steering.It was 9.5km/L, now 11km/L city driving.

Let's DIY one, it's easy and cheap, if you can do soldering.
https://www7.plala.or.jp/soaristo/pag...enser_tune.htm

JanGeo -

Thanks for the tips, I finally got around to installing this gizmo :

Ziptied On :
Attachment 532

Wiring to Battery :
Attachment 533

Before installing it, my Dad helped me to test to make sure that it was wired correctly (it is an el-cheapo, after all). He attached one of those big 6 volt batteries to it to see if it would hold a charge correctly and it did.

I don't think it will do anything for FE, but if it is good to my battery, then that will be a plus. To do a real test, I think I would need to "data log" the electrical system to see if the power spikes are being reduced. The closest I can get to testing it is to run the power windows up and down and watch to see how much the instrument cluster backlight dims, but that is way too subjective.

CarloSW2