Do voltage stabilizers really work?

[Evil Techie]

ive seen some voltage stablizers on ebay and some taiwanese shopping website such as pchome

they claim to improve bulb brightness, improved fuel economy, better torque response, prolongs battery life

http://www.ebay.com.sg/viItem?ItemId=4615357302

just wondering if its all false claims or does it really work

PIAA has one too
http://www.autobarn.net/voltagestabilizer2.html

[climacus]

It's rice voodoo.

[seftonm]

I've seen some dyno results that indicate slight gains in horsepower and torque. Usually a percentage point or two. There are much more effective ways to increase power and fuel economy.

[Evil Techie]

I've seen some dyno results that indicate slight gains in horsepower and torque. Usually a percentage point or two. There are much more effective ways to increase power and fuel economy.

such as?

im hoping to increase the fuel efficiency of my 01 GS300
while not losing any power
and gaining hp would be a bonus

ive been thinking of changing to torquemaster sparkplugs
it seems that they are a hell lot better than normal iridium plugs

the cheaper the mod the better
thought about adding SRT high flow intake but its costly...

[TrevorK]

Technically, the difference can be measureable.

On a DSM for example, a common mod is to rewire the fuel pump. Why? Because when you use the bigger wire, the voltage seen by the fuel pump is higher, more power going to it, the more fuel pressure.

Now is the difference noticeable? Unless your car has a fault in it's electrical system, or it's weak from the factory, I would hazard to guess that no, it won't be noticeable. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if on a modern car you got some side-effects of such a mod (Such as the case with the DSM fuel pump rewire, whereby you could theoretically consume more fuel)

[Evil Techie]

ok so it doesnt help a whole lot with performance but how about bulb performance and life?

also audio

[nsr250]

ok so it doesnt help a whole lot with performance but how about bulb performance and life?

also audio

For your audio why not just get a cap instead? As for everything else , your alternators already have a voltage reglator in it , putting another one in will just be redundant.

[DragonZealot]

Since it connects in parallel with the battery it won't do much stabilizing. Voltage regulator should be connected in series between the power source and the load.

Even it does stabilize the voltage I very much doubt it would produce the results that it claims like increase hp, torque, bulb life etc.

IMO this is completely useless.

[FastFokker]

Well if money is no consideration, then yes it's great. But the usefulness gained for the price paid is very difficult to determine.

I know in aviation, the voltage regulator is a critical peice of equipment, without it the systems go wonky. <- Personal experience, I had one fail on me during a night flight over unlight terrain... it was dangerous.

I personally wouldn't believe that any performance or increase in life expectancy would be useful when compared to the cost of such hardware.

I think seftonm is right, there are better ways to get what you are looking for in performance, as for increase in life of say your bulbs, who cares.. bulbs are reasonably cheap, what real benefit will a 5% increase give you?

[DragonZealot]

Yea the voltage regulator is a critical peice of equipment in a car.

There is already a regulator in the alternator which regulates the charging current to the battery. Since the battery is a big reservior of electrical charges so its voltage is quite constant, there is really no need to add another regulator.

If you measure the voltage across the battery and turn on/off heavy loads like head light etc the voltage should not fluctuates for more than .5V while the engine is running.

All accessories in a car are designed with this kind of voltage fluctations in mind. It would help if you feed an absolutely stable voltage to it. The engine computer operates under closed loop, that is, it would compensate any fluctation in driving the injectors.

[Narci]

The voltage regulator from what i have read and what people have been reporting in the car forums is that they don't neccessarily see gain in performance...they see gain in smoother shifting (especially in Automatics).

The gains/advatanges seen will be dependant on the car. Some cars are designed really well when it comes to grounding and voltage stabalization for many components such has the alternator. Some cars are god aweful at stablizing and would see an increase in 'performance'.

[enko]

This is complete **** and makes me sad to see big names like PIAA making this rice crap.

I bet all that's inside is a big capacitor wired in parallel. Capacitors let AC pass through but block DC. So in essence, any AC/non-constant changes in voltage will be short-circuit, never reaching your bulb.

[Narci]

I guess voltage stabalizers work for stereo equipment but not for cars.

[radeonboy]

Them things can work for cars too, they actually DO WORK. But the price of whats inside is ridicolous that its not worth buying. You can make it yourself for cheap. Its just a bunch of caps and more in them running in parallel.

Id rather do a grounding kit, thats more worth it since if you have a old car, all your grounds are rusted and ineffective.

[Pete_Coach]

Listen, you heard it here first. I know that if you run the electrical harness that comes from the alternator to the computer then from the computer to the main fuse block through the Tornado Fuel Saver, the actual electrons running in the wires line up in parallel thereby creating an "electric highway" with proper bypasses and without any of the normal electrical traffic jams (interference), giving you at least 10 more horsepower that you will only feel when on a dyno in a wind tunnel.



. <- Personal experience, I had one fail on me during a night flight over unlight terrain... it was dangerous.

I am in the aviation buisness and all systems are mandated by FAA and or Transport Canada to have have enough redundancy that a single failure would rarely cause concern, particularily in the DC system.

[FastFokker]

I am in the aviation buisness and all systems are mandated by FAA and or Transport Canada to have have enough redundancy that a single failure would rarely cause concern, particularily in the DC system.I was in a SEL aircraft operating under VFR-Night, flying over unihabitated land ~5500' with no moon light (overcast).

I had a primary power failure (1600W DC Generator), leaving me with the secondary power (19Ah DC Battery) which offers ~30mins with the standard minimum of instruments, navigation, radio and transponder (position lights off, collision lights off, 1 COM/NAV off, Pitot/Static off, Engine Instruments off).

The aircraft also has an emergency power source which only supplies the Turn and Bank coordinator (unsure of how long), which is still better than nothing, but I can assure you I was definitely in a pickle and that pickle was a major concern to me at the time. Fortunately ATC vectored me to the closet airport (~20min@110kts away?), and another aircraft (airliner) on the frequency activated the runway lights for me.

In any event, I landed safely (to greet police and ambulance, fire was on its way) and the next day learned it was a voltage regulator failure that caused my grief. That's my story and I'm stickin to it! ;)

[Evil Techie]

I was in a SEL aircraft operating under VFR-Night, flying over unihabitated land ~5500' with no moon light (overcast).

I had a primary power failure (1600W DC Generator), leaving me with the secondary power (19Ah DC Battery) which offers ~30mins with the standard minimum of instruments, navigation, radio and transponder (position lights off, collision lights off, 1 COM/NAV off, Pitot/Static off, Engine Instruments off).

The aircraft also has an emergency power source which only supplies the Turn and Bank coordinator (unsure of how long), which is still better than nothing, but I can assure you I was definitely in a pickle and that pickle was a major concern to me at the time. Fortunately ATC vectored me to the closet airport (~20min@110kts away?), and another aircraft (airliner) on the frequency activated the runway lights for me.

In any event, I landed safely (to greet police and ambulance, fire was on its way) and the next day learned it was a voltage regulator failure that caused my grief. That's my story and I'm stickin to it! ;)

good to hear u got thru that fine

[marcsterr]

i dont think so..bought a t1r vpower voltage stabilizer for my 03 rsx-s, see no change in fuel mileage/power/ANYTHING.

waste of money.

[Pete_Coach]

Fastfokker, my apologies. I understood your comments to be flying something other than a single engine aircraft and having a failure of the voltage regulator. Yes, I agree that a generator failure on a single engine aircraft at night would cause concern.
I was in the Airforce, SAR, by the way. 5500 ft, VFR, light overcast and no moon....generator failure...lucky.

[FastFokker]

Fastfokker, my apologies. I understood your comments to be flying something other than a single engine aircraft and having a failure of the voltage regulator. Yes, I agree that a generator failure on a single engine aircraft at night would cause concern.
I was in the Airforce, SAR, by the way. 5500 ft, VFR, light overcast and no moon....generator failure...lucky.Hey no problem, you are very correct though in the redundancy of systems for safety. No need for me to scare people out of flying, it's VERY safe, especially so with Commercial/Airline/Air Force pilots who have endless experience under their belts. ;)

The biggest problem was the flight was actually my cross country flight required for the Night Rating.. so I was very inexperienced at the time. As typical, it was the standard swiss cheese chain of events leading up to the accident, starting from much earlier in the night. Luckily the human factors education drilled on us allowed me to forsee my impending future and I reluctantly had to declare an emergency (pilots worst nightmare, saying those words).

What type of aircraft did you fly in the service? I have been contemplating an application for Air Crew in the DND. Friend of mine is flying a Sea King and loves it. (I'm excited for him to get into the new Cyclones!)

[Pete_Coach]

Fastfokker, you had an incident, an accident has much more severe implications. I was with the Labradors, Buffalo's, Twin Otters and ended with the Cormorant project. 35 years.
My philosophy is that it was better to fly with a scared pilot than a brave one. There are very few old, bold pilots. I have a Navy buddy who wonders about flying as well and always says that there are a lot more planes in the ocean than there are boats in the sky.
Be safe up there.