Earthing kits - myths or truths? (modem size warning)

[takai]

3am you should now say to mos," sorry thats a negative" hahahahahahaha

No, mick, we dont want to ground Mos out too much

[kingmick]

do i sense some resistance!lol

[3AM]

im laughing so hard it hertz!

its like every other voltage stabiliser, a bunch of high specification capacitors (various vaules balanced for the application)

when I used to play with remote control cars we used to put caps across the battery for greater response, it works on the same principle, it basically smoothes out the voltage.
Ive got a mate with a CRO, so itd be good to borrow it and show the before and after waveforms

I did quite abit of research I spoke to some guys overseas, ( if I hear "la" one more time ill go nuts ) and some of them were going crazy with these, using up to 70 capacitors! (overkill imo)

the claimed befefits are
Smoother automatic shifts, (especially to overdrive)
More stable HID color
Better fuel consumption
Smoother power curve
Easier startup
Smoother idle
Less freq interference from the radio
Better sound from stereo, and helps solve some of the problems with large systems

saying that, most of the testimonies ive heard were from ppl with low powered compact cars, with big systems.

basically imo stabilisers and earthing kits do work to some extent.. but only with older cars where earth has deteriorated, and the improvement may only just be noticable

ie, if you have a new car from factory, the earthing circuit will probably be quite sufficient

[takai]

do i sense some resistance!lol

I dont think there is any grounding for this and it is all just going around in loops.

[LeeRoy]

On another point all this talk is getting me amped and now im all charged up

[Mos]

its like every other voltage stabiliser, a bunch of high specification capacitors (various vaules balanced for the application)

when I used to play with remote control cars we used to put caps across the battery for greater response, it works on the same principle, it basically smoothes out the voltage.
Ive got a mate with a CRO, so itd be good to borrow it and show the before and after waveforms

I did quite abit of research I spoke to some guys overseas, ( if I hear "la" one more time ill go nuts ) and some of them were going crazy with these, using up to 70 capacitors! (overkill imo)

Don't worry lah, it's normal
Here's the ripple voltage at idle on the IS200 - was actually quite surprised it's this much - the max peak-peak was 2.14V, although the bulk of the ripple is within about 1V. Interestingly enough it doesn't seem to change at all with increased load - must investigate further

I need to scope the internal power supply of the ECU - coz I'd hypothesize that the internal caps and power supply in the ECU will filter out this ripple effectively.

You could use a large electrolytic cap in parallel with a smaller tantalum or MKT cap just in front of every ECU imaginable in the car - that way the extra supply is right where it's needed, shortest path away from the drain (just like virtually all ICs have their own power supply caps as close as practical to their power input pins.

Let us know how it progresses

Mos.

PS. The rest of you, there are no grounds for your potential differences!

[urantia]

Lee Roy brought up a good question. Will grounding the radiator help prevent corrosion or speed it up? my coolant is conducting electricity. (Stray current?)

i don't have the capacitance to understand this phenomenon.

[Mos]

Speed it up. You want to break the path of ion movement which insulating does.
Mos.

[oldcorollas]

zactly.... radiator.... connected by rubber hoses.... insulated by rubber bits....

same as you can hold onto power lines..... as long as you don't touch anythign connected to the ground

think of the helicopters that work on live high voltage transmission lines

[oldcorollas]

as for voltage stabilisers...

i can understand that having an ideally flat voltage would help...

however, in the real world, what components are affected so much by a small ripple as to change the way they operate?

is a 20ms ripple enough to change the way headlights or injectors operate?

noise may affect sensitive inputs to ECU, .... but TPS is regulated 5V current.... temp sensors have such large variation of resistance with temp that such a small riple may have little effect...

i'm curious as to what you leccy ppl think in terms of theory of each component, and it's effect on the running of an engine or other elec systems???

[Mos]

Things like headlights, electric motors, heater elements, solenoids, etc wont care about that level of ripple.

Things like ECUs could be affected by this, if there is a threshold somewhere that gets affect by the change, but that's why if it's critical it will have its own internal power supply. An engine ECU has a reasonably good power supply with adequate filtering (but need to scope for academic reasons ).
All the engine sensors are run off 5V (VCC) and their own dedicated ground path (E2).

Injectors may be affected in that the 2V difference can change their opening time - to what practical extent? I have no idea... anyone?

One thing that could be affected is the stereo - if its power input filtering isn't up to the job it can carry through to the speakers. This particular noise is at around 30Hz and will increase in frequency with engine revs - so it will be perfectly audible.

Mos.

[cambelt]

I was told you must ground everything in the cooling system inclusing the rad as to have no stray current anywhere in the system.

[Mos]

I was told you must ground everything in the cooling system inclusing the rad as to have no stray current anywhere in the system.

Whoever told you that did not understand that electrical currents flow through the coolant.

Grounding the radiator actually completes the circuit and enables the current to flow in the loop - it gives the stray current a path.
Insulating the radiator from ground means whatever currents wanted to flow through the coolant have nowhere to go (at least not to the radiator) - the circuit is broken and stops the stray currents from flowing (through the radiator).

Mos.

[The Witzl]

Resistance isn't futile in this case then.....

[mrshin]

Resistance isn't futile in this case then.....

Does your suggestion have any grouding? Although it seems a pretty down to earth idea...


*oops. Here we go again..*