voltage stabilizers, are they any good?

[CMF_detach8]

i was looking around some acc stores yesterday and came across a voltage stabilizer, was wondering if they are any good? i have a fuel economy issue and the sales says it might help with it since it will provide my 1.0L engine more power so I don't have to acc so hard, but was unable to find much information on the Internet.

well you know i shouldn't believe these sales guys all the time.

 

[smidge]

probably worth doing other general maintenance things before worrying about these kind of mods...

i know its hard to hand cash over to a mechanic sometimes but its worth having a good reliable one

 

[CMF_evade]

i'd say they're useless.

and i have one..

cost me bugger all so i decided i'd try it

cant tell the difference at all whatsoever

 

[smidge]

probably be better off with an extra 4 guage earth wire from the battery to the block and the chassis if you're concerned about 'electrical performance'

cause its a mod that can't do any damage and costs under 10$

 

[CMF_detach8]

Right... luckily I decided to walk out of that store empty handed. So what about a new battery? Mine looks really old, the type that requires distilled water. The batts I see on the shelve nowadays are "maintenance-free" types. I have yet to bring a voltmeter to test yet tho, what do you guys think?

I hope a little performance gain might help my fuel economy bit.

 

[CMF_mipcar]

Why pay more for a battery just for the convienience of not having to check the fluid. Even maintenance-free batteries still work on the same principle. They can be killed by under or overcharging just like any other battery.

Mychael

 

[CMF_jay85]

the japanese love these things.... they are proven to work.. they eliminate any voltage drop that may occur through earthing... cars are made on a budget and they use the smallest wiring possible...
if u have a look from ur battery there is only one lead coming from the negative terminal and bolts to the chassis and also to the gearbox.
so thats not a lot when u consider that everything relies on these two points... they work by theoretically making the alternaor not have to work as hard.

 

[CMF_detach8]

gee so i am getting mixed comments. really confused now. i don't seem to see any cables running from the -ve terminal of the batt to the chassis tho. how do i test if my vehicle is properly grounded?

 

[CMF_kneival]

Use a multimeter on resistance setting.

Unwire both terminals of the battery, place one lead on the 0v battery lead and the other on various parts of the car. If the resistance is very low then there is no need to upgrade the wiring.

I know you might think its been made on a budget but there is enough wiring there so that it doesn't melt anything. I don't think electricity really worries if it has to go via several cables to the battery! It travels rather quickly. However if one of your earthing points is bad or a wire has broken it could cause issues.

How bad is your fuel economy? Have you tried changing air, fuel and oil/filters?

 

[CMF_mipcar]

I would think that if you had voltage drop from bad earthing. Then you would see it first on things like high demand items, starter motor slow, headlights dim. etc.. If those things are not happening then you wont be getting voltage drop.
Modern electronics draw very little power. You could drive you Micra home without the alternator even working and the battery alone (in good condition) would keep up.
An alternator only replaces what is being used so in daylight driving it has quite low load on it.
Racing cars in the older days at Place like LeMans, actually had a generator cut-out switch so on the long straights (at night) they could get an extra few horsepower out of the engine by not having the generator loaded up when it was charging.

Mychael

 

[CMF_detach8]

kneival WROTE:
How bad is your fuel economy? Have you tried changing air, fuel and oil/filters?

I'm getting approx 8km/l (18.8mpg) which is very bad. I've got a mechanic to do a regular service which includes changing all the filters you mentioned. (See thread "Bad fuel economy"). He also found a binding brake, which was fixed. Now I am getting maybe 9-10km/l, but that's still bad. I should be looking at 14-15km/l for a 1.0L car.

mipcar WROTE:

"I would think that if you had voltage drop from bad earthing. Then you would see it first on things like high demand items, starter motor slow, headlights dim. etc.. If those things are not happening then you wont be getting voltage drop.

Modern electronics draw very little power. You could drive you Micra home without the alternator even working and the battery alone (in good condition) would keep up.

An alternator only replaces what is being used so in daylight driving it has quite low load on it.

Racing cars in the older days at Place like LeMans, actually had a generator cut-out switch so on the long straights (at night) they could get an extra few horsepower out of the engine by not having the generator loaded up when it was charging.

Mychael

Well my headlights do dim when I am on idle at a traffic junction, but it gets better if I switch off the air-conditioning.

 

[CMF_mipcar]

Your alternator might be getting tired but it sounds to me more like your battery is getting a bit past it. How old is the battery? Most modern batteries, (unless you pay premium price for high quality ones) generally only have a warranty of 3 yrs at the most and some even less.

My Micra is stock in the electrical department and I get no dimming of the headlights at idle.

Running your aircon will take some engine power and use a bit more fuel but I don't even see a huge difference if I run mine. It takes a lot to really kill the economy in a Micra.

I'd still be looking at tuning and all the things directly effecting your fuel flow before getting too worried about the electrical side of things.

We don't see the 1 litre cars here in Australia, they do have to work a bit harder being the smaller motor but your consumption seems excessive to me.

Mychael

 

[CMF_detach8]

I just got my car second hand so I don't really know how old the parts are but the batt definately looks small and old. I will bring a voltmeter this evening.

Meanwhile I am still puzzled why my FC is really bad, I don't see any oil stains where I park (only water, which I would assume to be from the air conditioning condensation)

No black smoke from exhaust at idle so that means engine is probably running normal (or do I have to get someone to step on the acc?)

One thing tho, when the fuel tank is nearly empty I hear water splashing, which I suspect to be just fuel running around the tank, is that an issue?

 

[CMF_mipcar]

I would imagine that to be what it is, though I've never heard it in my cars. Are you sure you don't actually have a fuel leak anywhere.? You might not be using the fuel but loosing it.

Mychael

 

[CMF_jay85]

actually the alternators job is to run everything once the car is started... the batteries job is to start the car

the alternator on the micra are quite small in output... and at idle with headlight and aircon on (remembering air con is the clutch coil on the compressor, two thermo fans, an interior blower fan) plus charge a battery that isnt at 100% charge. i would expect the lights to dim a little bit... but once revs are up then the alternator will be charging at maximum.

a voltmeter to test the battery isnt really the best way to do it.. if you are going to do it this way then the best way is to connect it up and see what voltage the batter has.. then start the car and check what voltage you are getting during crank. anything under 9 volts is unacceptable and you will need to replace you battery.

but this is off what your problem is... fuel consumption. i would be looking elsewhere for this problem

 

[CMF_detach8]

thanks mate for all the very informative replies. so rite now i might need to send it to an authorized dealer to have the ECU readout checked I guess, it's pretty difficult for me to check for leaks here in SG where we park our cars in a shared carpark. Don't seem like there's any oil leaks right now.