Electric motor driven accessories?

F

Falcon

Full Access Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2010
Messages
1,071
Reaction score
0
Location
Buckeye, AZ
I am a fan of thinking outside of the box. Doing the mods most people don't think about. Especially when it means freeing up horsepower vs adding horsepower. So a neighbor and I were talking last night about all the horsepower being robbed from the belt driven accessories. I know that a couple of our vendors offer the E-Fan conversion. But, it got me thinking. What if it were as simple as bolting on an electric motor to drive everything on the belt? Such as water pump, power steering, fan, etc. I am sure that there is quite a bit of HP to be had there. So I started thinking about what it would take to do it. Would it take a larger alternator? If so, would the extra magnetic drag take away from the benefit? My thoughts are no, but I am not sure. The motor would have to be powerful enough to drive everything and I would have to have a way for the RPMs of the electric motor to match the RPMs of the Viper motor. I know it has been done before, just never heard of it being done on our platform. This is something that I am seriously considering. It probably won't be as cost affective as other mods. But it is just another attempt to gain back all the horsepower that is lost through the drivetrain and accessories. Any thoughts, suggestions, tips and links are greatly appreciated! :rock:
 
I would have to say waste of time and money (esp if not full time racer). I believe the majority of your "wasted horsepower" is out the back end of the motor ala drivetrain loss. Just my dos centavos.:)
 
scar426 said:
I would have to say waste of time and money (esp if not full time racer). I believe the majority of your "wasted horsepower" is out the back end of the motor ala drivetrain loss. Just my dos centavos.:)
Click to expand...

Agreed, reducing the load on the power steering hydraulic system with an electric fan would help a little possibly, the AC should have near zero drag when not engaged, and I would guess the waterpump and alternator both rob about 5-7hp each. A switch to electric water pump is possible (and ive considered it for Doms truck) but the cost ($500-1000+ most likely since you probably have to use a radiator mounted or inline setup and would need a custom radiator for either setup) for the gain is minimal. The trucks are not hard at all to make alot of power with (just add proper forced induction), so cut weight to gain performance, its cheaper and easier than this approach.
Justin
 
Yes, the gains will not be much. But probably more gains than what is found through headers and probably at probably the same or even less cost. Light weight parts are on my list. Along with a 6 speed conversion.....waaaay in the future. I just prefer using the horsepower that already exists vs adding the horsepower. Yes, I am sure the results will not be much and it would probably be easier just to do the "standard" mods....but just something I have thought of. One hurdle that I see already is finding a DC motor that is small enough, powerfull enough and fast enough.
 
I would think the cost and modifying wouldnt be worth the little hp you would gain, just put a converter and headers and quit thinking so much Kyle.:D
 
phxpoolguy said:
I would think the cost and modifying wouldnt be worth the little hp you would gain, just put a converter and headers and quit thinking so much Kyle.:D
Click to expand...

LOL.....I bet it would cost the same if not less than headers with about the same gains. Converter is another mod in my future. ;)
 
I know how you could find out real easy on how much power is lost would be to have your engine cooled down enough and unhook your serpentine belt and do 1 quick pull! lol

Ive been thinking about doing an electric inline water pump,because when your at the track after a run you can shut your truck off and still cool it down while in line with the water pump and electric fan running!!:rock:
 
Last edited:
I will keep you guys updated with any results I may find. I know there are alot of you who think it is a dead end, and it may be, but I think if nothing else it will be fun to research. I have found a few DC motors that would possibly work for the setup. One I found is 20 pounds and puts out 10hp, which I think is plenty to drive an accessories belt. They normally use them for full electric conversions on scooters, fishing boats and jet skis. I contacted the company with a page full of questions and concerns.
 
Falcon said:
I will keep you guys updated with any results I may find. I know there are alot of you who think it is a dead end, and it may be, but I think if nothing else it will be fun to research. I have found a few DC motors that would possibly work for the setup. One I found is 20 pounds and puts out 10hp, which I think is plenty to drive an accessories belt. They normally use them for full electric conversions on scooters, fishing boats and jet skis. I contacted the company with a page full of questions and concerns.
Click to expand...

Don't want to bust your inspiration bubble but there are some basics that you need to understand that may deter you from spending money and not getting the results you want. Work is work! Regardless of whether your accessories are run by the engine or electricity they still require the same amount of force to move them. The only difference between the engine moving them or the alternator powering another device to move them is the loss you will get from the electrical/mechanical conversion. If I take an engine and find that it take 2 HP to run an accessory and I convert it to electric it is still going to take 2 HP worth of energy to turn it. But now that 2 HP of energy is coming from an alternator (I know alternators aren't rated in HP just trying to keep this simple). The alternator has essentially turned 2 HP of energy from electrical energy to mechanical energy. This is not a 1 to 1 conversion. More like it takes 2.4 HP to turn the alternator under a higher load to support the 2 HP accessory.
 
I do see your point, however, magnetic drag through alternator I imagine is far less than the mechanical drag caused by the accessories. Now I have no facts to back this up, but it is one thing I will be researching. I am not expecting much from it, but I am just curious if there are any gains to be had and what the gains would be. There are much more cost effective ways to gain HP......but I enjoy projects like this.
 
Falcon said:
I do see your point, however, magnetic drag through alternator I imagine is far less than the mechanical drag caused by the accessories. Now I have no facts to back this up, but it is one thing I will be researching. I am not expecting much from it, but I am just curious if there are any gains to be had and what the gains would be. There are much more cost effective ways to gain HP......but I enjoy projects like this.
Click to expand...

sounds like a killer project, and you will def make some nice gains, jus find the right motor , fab up a braket,an unleash free hp, way to think outta the box man! nice!
 
Just reread my last post and wanted to follow up and say I like that you are looking for new ways to explore change with your SRT and I don't want to be the one to discourage you but want to also share what I have learned so you can take that into consideration when perusing this adventure. Please feel free to ignore me if wish. If you do want more info please let me know and I will gladly share what I know.
 
seethrough said:
Just reread my last post and wanted to follow up and say I like that you are looking for new ways to explore change with your SRT and I don't want to be the one to discourage you but want to also share what I have learned so you can take that into consideration when perusing this adventure. Please feel free to ignore me if wish. If you do want more info please let me know and I will gladly share what I know.
Click to expand...

you are way too pretty to ignore:drool:
 
buy a E-charger :dontknow: they claim to put 2lbs of boost
 
Thanks Tony......not real sure I will be successful but I will enjoy it either way. Seethrough, I appreciate any input I can get, positive or negative.
 
Falcon said:
I do see your point, however, magnetic drag through alternator I imagine is far less than the mechanical drag caused by the accessories. Now I have no facts to back this up, but it is one thing I will be researching. I am not expecting much from it, but I am just curious if there are any gains to be had and what the gains would be. There are much more cost effective ways to gain HP......but I enjoy projects like this.
Click to expand...

Ok. Glad you want to explore. It is what makes all of us want to be unique. Again I will state that work is work. If a power steering pump requires 2 HP to operate it will require the same 2 HP to operate off of an electrical motor. The only difference is that the electrical motor and the power source for the motor will use more than 2HP because they each experience a loss through the electrical/mechanical conversion. For what you want you have to figure that every 25 amps you require from your alternator will result in 1 HP of mechanical energy. For a 10 HP dc motor it would require over 600 amps at 12 volts resulting in 24HP to run a 10 HP dc motor. If you are looking to free up wasted HP I would look at the auto transmission since it is the largest parasitic loss for us QC owners.
 
There is a german brushless motor capable of spinning around 50k rpm (similar size to a can of spray paint) and requires 3 yt optima batteries running in series to get 3-5 psi. There is much more to mention here but you could possibly think about an electric supercharger while your at it. :).

You'd have to allow some sort of control for the e-motor to adjust belt or gear speed (depending if bracket or not) based on current rpm's. Suppose tapping into the tps would be step 1 of 3. I'm forgetting a lot here. Crap...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Support Us

Become A Supporting Member Today!

Click Here For Details

Random Media

SRT10 062
2012 07 19 13.16.59
photo 2
Custom vinyl covered box with JL 12 in subs and JLHD9005 amp 2
Back
Top