Maintaining Your High Performance Electrical System
Published by Justina Mathews in Cars and Trucks, 3 months 1 week 6 days 2 hours 58 minutes 29 seconds ago
On any automobile, the condition of the electrical system goes a long way towards keeping your performance at the most advantageous level. This system is called upon to do a lot when it comes to keeping your ride running. In an older motor vehicle, the electrical system has to keep energy flowing to the ignition and spark plugs, as well as run all of the cars accessories. In a modern car, extra strain is added by the fact that the cars computer needs a stable stream of power, not to mention the demands of a massive amount of sensors.
When racing, the cars engine is under maximum load for a fairly considerable length of time. This means that if the electrical system is not in the very best shape, you could be looking at power loss, hesitation, and strange behavior at the worst possible time. No one wants to pull out to pass someone only to have a cylinder misfire, or experience the agony of the ignition shutting off halfway down a quarter-mile run. How can you avoid these types of problems dudes?
The first thing to do is make sure your alternator is up to the job of generating the power you require while racing. The alternator runs off a belt from the engine and it is intended to put out enough power to not only charge the battery but also keep the motor running. If you have added on a more powerful ignition, or a new stand-alone engine management system, then your stock alternator might not be able to keep up with the electrical demands your car is making. Upgrading to a larger alternator will give your car more amps to divide amongst the various electrical components that are needed while running at full throttle.
The next item you should check? Your connection points. Increased electrical demands means more heat being created at each junction where wires connect to each other, to the battery, or to the chassis. Over time this heat can damage connections or burn them out, leaving them blackened or scored. This heat degrades the ability of a connection to properly transmit the power your engine needs. Not only that, but solenoids can also be burned out completely by this extreme electrical heat. If you notice that certain connections are consistently being affected, then you can try to upgrade them to a gauge of wire with a greater capacity. You might also want to consider evaluating your wiring as a whole to see why certain points are falling victim to more heat than others. A further way to reduce the strain on your electrical system while racing is to remove accessories that you don't really need. Stereo system, air conditioner, power windows and door locks? These extras are not going to help you make horsepower out on the track, and their use while racing is just going to put stress on your alternator. Ripping them out or shutting them down while you are racing will help keep the electrical system cool and probably pick you up a few seconds over the course of the race.
When racing, the cars engine is under maximum load for a fairly considerable length of time. This means that if the electrical system is not in the very best shape, you could be looking at power loss, hesitation, and strange behavior at the worst possible time. No one wants to pull out to pass someone only to have a cylinder misfire, or experience the agony of the ignition shutting off halfway down a quarter-mile run. How can you avoid these types of problems dudes?
The first thing to do is make sure your alternator is up to the job of generating the power you require while racing. The alternator runs off a belt from the engine and it is intended to put out enough power to not only charge the battery but also keep the motor running. If you have added on a more powerful ignition, or a new stand-alone engine management system, then your stock alternator might not be able to keep up with the electrical demands your car is making. Upgrading to a larger alternator will give your car more amps to divide amongst the various electrical components that are needed while running at full throttle.
| Personal Web Hosting PHP, CGI/Perl, MySQL 30 Day Money-back Guarantee | SEOelite The Grand Daddy Of All SEO Software Our Website is ranked #1 in Google |
| Recommended by Team77 | |
The next item you should check? Your connection points. Increased electrical demands means more heat being created at each junction where wires connect to each other, to the battery, or to the chassis. Over time this heat can damage connections or burn them out, leaving them blackened or scored. This heat degrades the ability of a connection to properly transmit the power your engine needs. Not only that, but solenoids can also be burned out completely by this extreme electrical heat. If you notice that certain connections are consistently being affected, then you can try to upgrade them to a gauge of wire with a greater capacity. You might also want to consider evaluating your wiring as a whole to see why certain points are falling victim to more heat than others. A further way to reduce the strain on your electrical system while racing is to remove accessories that you don't really need. Stereo system, air conditioner, power windows and door locks? These extras are not going to help you make horsepower out on the track, and their use while racing is just going to put stress on your alternator. Ripping them out or shutting them down while you are racing will help keep the electrical system cool and probably pick you up a few seconds over the course of the race.
About Justina Mathews
Justina Mathews writes issues that currently affect the performance car enthusiast. She also writes about issues that affect the street tuner industry, as well as import scene lifestyle. She's a staff writer for cooling systems.
Resources
Small European Cars Shine Wall Street Journal - The tiny two-person Smart is doing well in the US, a market where consumers have long preferred big sport-utility vehicles and trucks. ... |
 Canada.com | Let market forces dictate Big Three’s fate New Orleans CityBusiness, LA - They made the cars and trucks that took us to work, made family vacations affordable and moved American-made products around the country on the newly ... A Real Bailout for Auto Makers Look! There’s Another Wolf! No, I Just Saw Him, Behind That Tree! EDITORIAL: Compromise could revive auto industry |
GM de Mexico Announces Grace Lieblein as President and Managing ... StreetInsider.com (subscription), MI - With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 34 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally ... |
 News Channel 7 | Full fleet of trucks battling snow accumulations Southtown Star, IL - Cars parked in violation of the restriction with permanently posted signage may be ticketed, towed and impounded. The ban is in effect from 3 am to 7 am ... Snow's started; all city plows out |
Plummeting auto sales contribute to budget shortfalls across US Xinhua, China - Nearly 2 million fewer cars and trucks were sold in the United States through October this year compared with last year, resulting in at least 2 billion ... |
Cars and Trucks - Google News