battery charging between rounds?

[Ed Wright]

Mike that is what I always did before I had an electric water pump. Old days, when my hair was still brown, I cooled the radiator with a garden sprayer, then started it up to rotate the water like you said.

I now have a cool down battery (stole the idea from Mike Edwards) and a connector I unplug my water pump and fans from the car, and plug in another battery I built a cable for, which is connected to a charger. That way the fans and water pump don't drain the batteries in the car during cool down.

Have had my wife haul it to the staging lanes (no charger) for cooling it before heads up and for class. Now I have the chiller and the piece with the quick disconnects and flapper in the lower hose I use for that. I use a digital temp gauge so I can hit my temps as close as possible every time. I don't use the chiller for "bracket mode", just the cool down battery.

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

If Jeff Warren says the air/fuel is OK, it's OK. I don't think you will find anybody else with a V8 seeing 2 tenths difference with the alternator if the battery is properly charged before the run. Makes no sense at all. I wouldn't even tell it. LOL

Ed on my 4 cylinder. I used to slow up a tenth by turning the fans on during a run. The ECU people told me it shouldn't make any difference the ECU is made for anywhere forom 8 to 12 volts. But the car slowed down.
I eventually found the problem. The A 1000 fuel pump didn't like the extra draw from the fans. I raised the fuel pressure a pound or so and now it doesn't care if it's on or off.

[Ed Wright]

Art, your fans should be off during a run. They can not move as much air as ram air at speed. They actually block air flow at higher speeds. If you use a FAST XFI ECU like I do to control your fans it automatically turns the fans off @ WOT. GM ( probably Ford & MOPAR too) shut the fans off about 45 MPH, and just let them "windmill" so as to not restrict air flow through the radiator. That would hurt cooling going down the track, or driving on the highway. If you control your fan with the ECU, you might check with the mfgr, it may shut them off @ WOT also. If not, maybe a button the throttle hits @ WOT to shut it off?

[Mark Yacavone]

Art ,I know someone ;-) who had a small limit switch up under the dash on the gas pedal, who had it hooked to a relay that controlled the fan.
As Ed said ,you don't need the fan going down the track, so the fan would be on at all times, even during the burnout, except at WOT.
Another guy ;-) actually incorporated the alternator main feed wire into the same relay.
I know yours truly ,doesn't care to be thinking about a bunch of switches while I'm in the zone..from the burnout box forward.

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Art ,I know someone ;-) who had a small limit switch up under the dash on the gas pedal, who had it hooked to a relay that controlled the fan.
As Ed said ,you don't need the fan going down the track, so the fan would be on at all times, even during the burnout, except at WOT.
Another guy ;-) actually incorporated the alternator main feed wire into the same relay.
I know yours truly ,doesn't care to be thinking about a bunch of switches while I'm in the zone..from the burnout box forward.

I don't have my fans run by the ecu. I could it has the oupts for it but I have an old style switch box that turns the fans on I have a remote to turn them on or off under the hood.
The point I was trying to make was the voltage drop when the fans were on slowed the fuel pump down. The ECU is in open loop (Alpha N ) it a a temperature compensation, but the temp was never a problem (till the wire came off the temp sender one pass and it went full rich one time). The ECU doesn't know what my fuel pressure is so it doesn't adjust. The car was on the lean side in a few boxes to begin with This was before I was able to tune it, the dyno guys just tuned for max power and didn't worry much about the rest. I eventually got it straightend out.
On my list for later this season is to tune the car with the alternator switch off. It's a tiny little motor and I'm sure the alternator is sucking up power going down the track.

[Ed Wright]

Al, are you using 12 volt battery(s)? Mine with 2 16 volt batteries has a slightly higher voltage level going down the track as it did with 12 volts and the alternator charging. My FAST ECU & MSD box loves volts. Runs 15.0 to 15.3 on the data logger, depending on if I let the fans & water pump run in the staging lanes. On 12 volts it was a tick faster with the alternator charging. Did slow it down some with pulleys. Had to have it aligned well to keep belts on at 8500.

[Ed Wright]

Mark, did you get your Tarus figured out?

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Mark, did you get your Tarus figured out?

I'm not sure, Ed I haven't heard how it was acting this week...I'll call you though, as soon as I know.
Thanks for asking

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Al, are you using 12 volt battery(s)? Mine with 2 16 volt batteries has a slightly higher voltage level going down the track as it did with 12 volts and the alternator charging. My FAST ECU & MSD box loves volts. Runs 15.0 to 15.3 on the data logger, depending on if I let the fans & water pump run in the staging lanes. On 12 volts it was a tick faster with the alternator charging. Did slow it down some with pulleys. Had to have it aligned well to keep belts on at 8500.

Going up the track alternator on I'm at 14 volts, Alternator off 11 volts

Ed I'm CHEAP. I'm not going to spend the money to go to a 16 volt system. I just put new rings and bearings in it. That exceeded my yearly budget. I'm still running store bought street headers.
I'm planning on selling the car in the not to distant future. So if someone buys it they can do those things.