Electric Supercharger

[deevergote]

WiKKeDV16 brought up www.boosthead.com in another thread. They sell a new ESC that actually seems like it has some merit.

To get the full benefit from it, you would need the best available batteries and a 500 amp alternator... Their estimate for that would be like $3500 total, I believe ($2000 ESC included...)

The thing functions more like nitrous than a turbo or supercharger. It's designed for 15 second bursts, and the PSI can be adjusted. Cheap batteries and a stock alternator could be used, but that would make the recharge time considerably longer. The ultimate setup would allow for a recharge in like 2-3 minutes.

It's designed mainly for cars that don't have readily available turbo kits (which our cars do, even my hybrid) so it may not be the best option. Still...

Something about this thing really interests me. It seems like such a unit would be better than the other FI options for a number of reasons.

Pros:
-No nitrous tanks to fill
-No parasitic supercharger belts
-No crazy turbo piping, oiling, cooling, etc...
-Electric means an on/off switch for when you DON'T want the power (rain, snow, cops...) My very first post on www.hondahookup.com was "Can you turn a turbo off?" (I was clueless at the time...)
-Much easier to fit


Cons:
-Brand new, might not be so reliable yet
-MAD expensive!
-Not full time power, only good for bursts
-A 500 amp alternator might be hard to find... I can't find one online.
-They're supposedly noisy as hell


This thing seems really cool to me. I could hook it to my throttle, so it would go on at WOT, and have an OFF switch for when I don't want it to kick on.


I'd love some feedback! Please don't call BS until you check out the site. If you check it out and still have reason to doubt, then I would be interested in hearing it.

[HondaFan81]

Yea, it does seem like it has merit. I just wonder how many times this ESC can recharge itself before you need new batteries? I remember playing toys that'd have rechargeable batteries/battery pack and after a while of using them & constantly recharging...they go bad & you need to buy a new set.

[HondaFan81]

I was also just thinking, most people get sick of nitrous being temporary power & end up going turbo, S/C or all-motor build ups anyhow. So if you end up being one of these peeps that change your mind....that's a couple grand you threw in the hole instead of $400-500 for a nitrous setup & some refills.

[deevergote]

That's where hooking it to the throttle comes into play... If I can recharge it fairly often, and quickly, and only use it at WOT, when else would I need it? When you want to go fast in any car, you gun it. With this setup, you gun it, and you go fast... I only plan on racing on the drag strip, and driving on the street... with the occasional rip away from a stoplight.

The way I'm thinking, this would provide the same features of a turbo, with minimal maintenance... I'm not sure on the battery life though. They talk about Optima batteries, which are regular car batteries, right? Your normal car battery can last for years getting recharged through the stock alternator. I wonder if this extreme use would change that...

[blazen_accord]

optima yellow top battery, can be completely drain 300-400 time before it die, standard battery about 2 time then it dead. If this device drain lot of power fast from your battery then. then by adding several car stereo stiffener capicitor and an extra optima battery would help hold some reserve power and give the battery extra boost of power when the device is on. plus those cap recharge very fast.

[WiKKeDV16]

yeh im interesed in this for my girlfends altima..
hence.. they used an altima just like heres as the prototye car..
hehee
its in miami florida so sometime his summer im going to go ride shotgun in that thing and see how everything works out
and its true
why would u want full power allthe time?
how many times do u race for more than 15seconds?
anyway.. i think is worth it for 3,500
i mean a bolt on turbo kit can be from 2k-3k.. and u have maintain it...
this ESC doesnt need no maintanence... seems perfect for those who dont race alot but do like alot of power when they do..

[theone]

man, this thing sounds ok, got me sitting here like DAMN
should I.....

[deevergote]

Well, I guess it's not necessarily the full time power that I would want, but I would want it availible whenever I want it... not like nitrous, where I could run out.

The whole low maintenance idea of this thing really interests me. Plus the low installation requirements. There would be no oil lines to run, no intercoolers to mount (and advertize your car as a "steal me" object)... And something tells me that the electronic nature of the thing makes me think it would be easier to build safety measures into it. So I could feel safe setting it at like 5psi on stock internals. It definitely requires research, but I really want to know about it!

My idea for a setup, if it's possible:
1) ON switch - To just turn it on
2) OFF switch - When I don't want it at all
3)ARMED setting - This is the interesting one... I'd like to be able to hook it to the throttle to go on at WOT. That way, I can have the power when I want it, and no other time (only when I floor it)... With a little tweaking, I can have a setup similar to turbo. Not quite, but close enough!

I might be going down to FL to visit a friend this summer. If I end up doing that, I might check it out as well.