Do idling vehicles with headlights and other electrics running produce enough power off the alternator? Or are they also drawing off the battery?
My motorbike at idle draws from the battery rather than charge it.
^^^^
Chris, the new age systems, only has alternators charge when needed. Its supposed to be a fuel saving idea 
But a huge pain in the youknow whatsit to anybody wanting to enhance the battery numbers in the modern vehicles. 
Select to expand quoteGreenPat said..Gorgo said..
Not forums, or someone's mate, or "I had ....".
I blew up two turbos on Atlas Copco MT5020 trucks. Rule on site was to idle down for a minute before stopping, I always thought I did that. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't...
Typical 
That's cos it was an MT5020 and not a Caterpillar 
Select to expand quote cauncy said..
my bros latest top of the range diesel turns off whenever he stops, ie traffic lights, conjestion, major intersections, this is an automatic economy /environmental option, so carnt see why a major manufacturer would produce them if it cost them on warranty claims
cauncy, I had the use of one of these a while back. Very funny for about a micro second, then it became a pain in the coit Nothing more annoying when you want to give the hard peddle a good work out, and the starter is still kicking out as it goes up in RPM.
The vehicle had from memory about 3500 k's on it and in that time had saved about $7.50 in fuel. Starter I reckon no matter what they say, will give up the ghost, and blow that $7.50 into the distant past
Biggest gimmick on the consumer in a long time.
Select to expand quotemineral1 said.. cauncy said..
my bros latest top of the range diesel turns off whenever he stops, ie traffic lights, conjestion, major intersections, this is an automatic economy /environmental option, so carnt see why a major manufacturer would produce them if it cost them on warranty claims
cauncy, I had the use of one of these a while back. Very funny for about a micro second, then it became a pain in the coit Nothing more annoying when you want to give the hard peddle a good work out, and the starter is still kicking out as it goes up in RPM.
The vehicle had from memory about 3500 k's on it and in that time had saved about $7.50 in fuel. Starter I reckon no matter what they say, will give up the ghost, and blow that $7.50 into the distant past
Biggest gimmick on the consumer in a long time.
I've haven't driven a stop-start vehicle enough to form an opinion, but I drive with a cruise control all the time, including in the suburbs. It all works fine once you understand the technology and use it appropriately.
I test drove a car with stop-start. It has a button to turn it on and off. It was easy to engage it or disengage it whenever you wanted.
Select to expand quoteChris6791 said..
Do idling vehicles with headlights and other electrics running produce enough power off the alternator? Or are they also drawing off the battery?
My motorbike at idle draws from the battery rather than charge it.
My understanding is that modern cars with EFI should provide a decent amount of power even at idle. They need to be able to run all the electrical loads, without a battery, including all the computers, lights, and the thermo fan(s). Which is still quite a decent power draw.
They don't produce the full rating at idle of course, which can be around 130 amps flat out, but they still provide a decent amount.
Select to expand quoteIan K said..Kamikuza said..
I don't see that as any more dishonest than all the other manufacturers who set the engine management computers to run as lean as possible in the range of throttle position and rpm that emissions test use...
Yes but the throttle positions and rpm in the test procedures are designed to replicate typical driving. (I worked for a bit at the vehicle testing station at Altona, the drive cycle includes a good dose of throttle, more than many of us would use in the real world). Can't see that optimising the emissions for typical driving (even if it is as determined by the testers) is anything but reasonable.
This is something else altogether.
Yes, it's quite something else! But it's the same kind of dishonest, I reckon.
Emissions testing here is done at a couple of RPM points, so bikes are typically have very lean settings right in those ranges. It's arbitrary data points, decided on by a commission, and in no way reflect real-world typical driving...
Select to expand quoteKamikuza said..I don't see that as any more dishonest than all the other manufacturers ..
On a related note - today [on the AM wireless
] a legal type bloke was commenting about VW being caught out being dishonest, and mentioned a recent case in Kiwi country where a fella took FOMOCO to court when his Cougar didn't get the milage that Ford's propaganda said it should - and he won!
Now THAT would be bound to worry the car manufacturers!
stephen
Select to expand quotesn said..Kamikuza said..I don't see that as any more dishonest than all the other manufacturers ..
On a related note - today [on the AM wireless ] a legal type bloke was commenting about VW being caught out being dishonest, and mentioned a recent case in Kiwi country where a fella took FOMOCO to court when his Cougar didn't get the milage that Ford's propaganda said it should - and he won!
Now THAT would be bound to worry the car manufacturers!
stephen
Good on him!
Last International trip, we got a Corolla Fielder to the airport, and the hybrid version on the way back home. The hybrid used more gas, by about a third!
My Focus has manufacturer mileage at 7.1l/100km. I routinely get 6.1 and have got as low as 5.2 on a tank. On the other hand my beach bunky Rodeo gets about 2 litres oil per 5000km and 1 litre of coolant per 100km.
my iload should do 700 km on a tank, only does 600, but who cares : I run it on cooked oil.
My favourite is when I use oil from the chinese restaurant, hummmm that springroll smell !!!
Select to expand quotemineral1 said..
^^^^
Chris, the new age systems, only has alternators charge when needed. Its supposed to be a fuel saving idea
But a huge pain in the youknow whatsit to anybody wanting to enhance the battery numbers in the modern vehicles.
I know with our Diesel the alternator won't kick in until the battery is down to around 20% and we can have "alternator thingy inhibiter disconnected" if we want it to run as standard, for additional electrics. Also I like to run the engine for around 1 min in the morning (cold climate) and a couple of mins after long runs. Does it do any good? Don't know, but its not doing any harm.
What regulation are you specifically referring to jeff2? Because every vehicle can be left running unattended without anything extra being fitted.
