Got my voltage stabilizer and grounding kit in the mail today. I connected it up to the battery and turned on the car and the box started smoking and the circuit board inside the voltage stabilizer was burning! I was ticked. It burned out the LED bulbs and it might have worked still but I took it out to be safe. Anyway, I connected up the 3 grounding wires to the engine and engine bay, and took it for a test drive, and man what a difference! I wasn't sure if ground wires would help a Jaguar, but man my car hauls now. The engine is so much zippier and quiet now. Good ground wires never cease to amaze me. I attached one to the throttle body bolt, one to the top of the intake manifold and one to the body near the top of the front spring and then they feed back to the negative ground of the car's battery (Another good location to ground is the transmission body). Definitely recommend this upgrade. This is all without the voltage stabilizer installed.

 

Actually I am not sure I want to install that voltage stabilizer in my car now. Better to get a good quality one than a counterfeit. They are supposed to help power your car when you're using a lot of electrical stuff.

 

Where did you get it from? I hear some say (not about Jags, just in general) that they are just snake oil (do nothing) and others say they work wonders. Considering X's have grounding issues though I can see how it would help. Got pics of what you did and what you installed?

 

I consider them snake oil. Keep in mind that your alternator is really an AC generator that is just rectifying the signal into pulsating DC and then your battery filters that to make it more "flatline". But, it is still bouncing between 12.6 VDC and 13.7 VDC. So, unless you are installing a massive capacitor (talking on the scale of a 100 farad), it is not going to do much. The only way that it could really do anything is to be in line between the battery and the alternator and have all the output of the alternator feed through the box, then have the box limit the voltage to 12.7 VDC. Then your ripple would be vary minimal. This is only going to result in the alternator cooking itself though as it fights to raise the voltage that much more to make up for what the limiter is doing.

 

I've seen snake oil and I've seen snake oil, but I've never seen snake oil like this before.

Even if the stabilizers actually stabilized, how could it possibly cause the engine to produce more power or run more smoothly.

'Grounding cables' are the same thing.

I guess there's no limit to the placebo effect.

 

Mikey, not saying that this is what is happening in this case, but it is conceivable that if you had poor grounds (ie, causing a voltage loss between 2 ends of a cable), that could affect engine performance since the spark would be weakened. But, then, you are simply correcting the problem (or bypassing it if you installed new wires).

 

Not really- the secondary/high tension ignition system is independant and electrically isolated from the 12VDC primary/low voltage system. Varying the voltage on the primary side (within a reasonable range) has only a minimal effect on the secondary.

More importantly- spark intensity has no effect whatsoever on engine power output. Either the plug fires and ignites the fuel/air, or it doesn't. A hotter spark doesn't result in hotter or faster burning fuel.

 

I copied the following from the workshop manual. The Jaguar alternator voltage is variable and controlled by the ECU. I WOULD NOT SCREW WITH VOLTAGE LEVELS.

"The engine control module (ECM) can switch the voltage regulator between two voltages to optimize the charging of the battery.
The low voltage regulator setting is 13.6 volts and the high voltage regulator setting is 15.3 volts, measured with the generator at 25°C
(77°F) and charging at a rate of 5 amps. These values decrease with a rise in temperature or current flow.
The ECM determines the voltage setting of the voltage regulator. The high voltage setting is always selected by the ECM once the vehicle
has started. The ECM determines the period of time that the high voltage setting is selected for."

 

Thick grounding wires really do help engine performance. I've installed them on three cars now, and all with remarkable results. Good grounding is something car manufacturers seem to overlook. And not to mention stock grounds get corroded over time and what not. Also, manufacturers don't actually ground the entire engine, with a grounding wire kit you can add points to multiple parts of the engine block, which is going to help keep the engine running optimal.

As for the voltage stabilizer, I upgraded the cheap one I got that burned up with a higher quality better brand. Anyways, I am really please with it. I installed it today with the extra ground wires it came with, and took it for a good spin, and the difference is not enormous but the engine definitely has a bit more power and feels zippier. And when you turn the key the engine starts up super quickly. They say it also improves the bass on your stereo, but I haven't tested that yet. It's basically just a capacitor that acts as a back up battery to the battery, so I doubt it will do any harm. People put them on cars all the time. If I do run into any problems because of it I will let you guys know. But as I see it, it was money well spent. Just be sure to get a good quality one, not a counterfeit. You can find several good ones around $50-$80. I wouldn't recommend the $20 ones. If it doesn't included extra grounding wires, I would definitely get a set. Grounding helps out the most probably.

 

What??? The makers put in good grounds. Plural. See workshop manual. At most you may have to clean and remake one every few years.

 

I know, believe me, today I saw how many ground wires were around the engine bay. Jaguar seems to have a lot of grounding, so I was skeptical of whether or not a grounding kit would help my car, but knowing me I had to get one since they've helped my other cars so much, and yes, I noticed an improvement immediately with the grounding wires alone. Just to the throttle body and top of the intake manifold, one to the side of the engine bay and my car ran quieter and had more pull when accelerating. I was impressed. Definitely worth the upgrade. This is without the voltage stabilizer.

 

Yes correct, but it's obviously impossible to convince someone otherwise when they've got their mind made up. Like any other snake oil device, the peddlers prey upon those with little knowledge on the subject. I fail to understand the leap of logic made to explain how the combustion of fuel and air is improved by reducing the (theoretical) electrical potential between the engine block and the car chassis.

I suppose mentioning that the car wouldn't run at all if the spark plug centre electrode was grounded would be a stick in the OP's wheel of miracles.

 

The reason it helps "stabilize" the voltage is this: Capacitors can release their energy faster than the car battery, which has to switch on and off from charging from the alternator. The quick energy release ability of the capacitors fill in the split second delays from a traditional car battery and thus keep the total voltage of the car more stable and you have more volts on demand to power your accessories and engine. All I can say is the engine feels like it has a slight boost through the entire rpms and it starts up quicker. I'm not saying they are for everyone either, it's up to you. If it does damage anything I'll let you know but I don't see how it could.

 

I am far from the most technically savvy member on here, but am I missing something here? You mention having more volts on demand to power accessories. Unless you have a whole lot of other things drawing power from the system (10 bazillowatt stereo, electric shaver, etc.) wouldn't the stock system be more than adequate to handle anything that comes stock with the car seamlessly? Like I said, I know nothing about these sorts of things, but it just doesn't pass the smell test for me. And if a simple ground could improve performance even incrementally I would think the manufacturer would have implemented something that simple in the original design.

 

Now you've switched from grounds to capacitors.

'More volts' won't cause the engine to make more power or start any differently. If it did, manufacturers would simply adjust the alternator regulator settings or alternator capacity accordingly. The capacitors make no difference during start- they carry insufficient energy to assist in any meaningful manner.

Your statement "Capacitors can release their energy faster than the car battery, which has to switch on and off from charging from the alternator."

is completely false. The battery is never isolated from the car electrical system. It's on line and active at all times.

Further- "The quick energy release ability of the capacitors fill in the split second delays from a traditional car battery" is also incorrect

There is no delay, as pointed out above nor would it make any difference to the operation of the vehicle even if true.

You can believe the hocus-pocus if you want, but it's easily dismissed with a bit of technical knowledge.

 

Alfa, maybe I can help with the clarification of things. Please keep in mind that we are now talking on the scale of milli and micro-seconds. Something far faster than you will probably perceive with your eyes.

Lets first start with the purpose of what the various components are designed/meant to do:

Alternator: provide source of power to keep all electrical things in the car running and to provide a means to recharge the battery for any power that gets pulled out of it.

Battery: provide an initial source of power to roll the engine, to act as a filter to minimize voltage changes in the electrical system, and to provide a source of power to maintain any electronic memory.

Capacitor: an electrical component designed to minimize changes in voltage by either absorbing or discharging electricity. Can be made to do other functions, but for this situation, this is all it does.

Now lets get into the micro second explanation of what happens with your car. When you open the door (engine is off), the only thing providing power for the car is the battery. Due to this being a chemical reaction, the voltage output of the battery is a constant thing (ie, the voltage does not bounce up and down). This voltage is normally 12.6 VDC.

When you crank the engine over and it fires, the alternator is set up to run at a higher voltage than the battery so it assumes all the load. Should the output of the alternator fall below that of the battery, due to the battery being at a higher voltage, it will take the load (keep this in mind).

Now, for how the alternator controls the system voltage. The ECU looks at the voltage being sent to it and compares it to a reference voltage (internal to the ECU for our cars). THe ECU then sends out a voltage to the alternator to raise and lower the voltage as needed to maintain it at the desired voltage. For the sake of this argument, I am not going to cover the first minute or so of the engine running as this is beyond what we are trying to talk about here. So, I am looking at just the steady state, driving down the highway, condition.

The alternator takes the voltage from the ECU and applies it to the field of the alternator. This creates a rotating magnetic field inside the alternator. This rotating field causes electricity to be generated in the outside coils of the alternator in the form of alternating current (AC voltage, stick with me here). This alternating current/voltage is bouncing between +15 and -15 volts. While still inside the alternator, this voltage is sent to a device called the rectifier. The rectifier takes the positive voltage and sends it straight through and the negative voltage it will invert to make it positive. So, the output of the alternator is "bouncing" between 0 and +15 volts in a modified sine wave (there is more to this and the electrical engineers will know this, but I don't want to make things more complicated than what they need to be and try to break it down to something that others can understand). Just keep in mind that the voltage is only changing at the alternator like this and is not being seen by the ECU (see below) and also is changing fast enough that the ECU can not keep up with the changes.

So, with the alternator trying to "bounce" between 0 and 15 volts, the battery is wired in parallel to the alternator, the two are going to start "sharing" what each one is carrying. Remember I mentioned that the component with the higher voltage will carry the load? In this case, when the alternator is above 12.6 volts (which is a majority of the time), the alternator is carrying the load of the car and also feeding some power into the battery. But, as soon as the voltage drops to below 12.6 VDC, the battery starts taking up the load and powering the car. So, in reality, the electrical system of your car "bounces" between 12.6 and 15 volts. When you connect up a multimeter, it is taking the average of this and will then indicate a reading of 13.7 to 14.4 VDC (different multimeters filter this voltage differently and will therefore give different readings).

Now, lets add a capacitor to this equation. In short, we are now going to have 3 power sources "fighting" to take the load. This is what it really turns into as you will see. The big thing to keep in mind is that the capacitor will respond faster than the battery to changes in voltage due to capacitor storing the power as a field vice in a chemical reaction. The starting of the car is essentially unaffected. That all remains pretty much the same. So, lets move on to going down the highway.

The big thing to keep in mind here is the capacitor is going to fight to keep the voltage at 1 specific value and not allow it to vary at all!!!!!!! With the engine running, the capacitor is going to do this at a voltage above what the battery is at. So, for the most part, the battery gets removed from the 3 way power fight. So, now we are just dealing with the capacitor and the alternator.

For the sake of argument, I am going to start at a predetermined time where the capacitor is charged to 13.7 volts and the alternator is at 13.7 volts too. As the alternator voltage tries to rise above 13.7 volts, the capacitor is going to suck up this extra voltage and force the voltage t othe car to stay near 13.7 volts (keep in mind that as this happens, the capacitors voltage will rise slightly but for sake of argument, it is constant in this case). As the alternator's output falls below 13.7 volts, the capacitor will now release its stored power to try and maintain the voltage at 13.7 volts (Yes, the voltage will fall slightly as the capacitor discharges). The battery only steps in if the capacitor voltage were to fall below 12.6 VDC. This is where the size (farad rating) of the capacitor comes into play as the larger capacitor will have more power storage than a smaller capacitor. Therefore, the larger capacitor will be able to maintain the voltage near one value better.

To give everyone something that they can relate to, if you remember driving in a car with a cheap radio in it, some people could hear a humm coming through the radio. That is this voltage oscillation that I have been trying to explain. It can range from a few hundred oscillations a second to tens of thousands a second.

Is there more to this. OF COURSE. I have simplified this to make it something that the average Joe can understand. If you want to know more, I will discuss it in a different area as you can get into a lot of different situations where something as simple as the placement of the capacitor can affect whether it is acting as a true power source or acting to filter more and vice versa. Also, I will admit that my explanation of how the capacitor absorbs the power is very simplistic. But, I figure most people don't want to get into how the wiring is dropping voltage due to excessive current and ........... (I can see the eyes rolling into the back of a few heads).

 

Excellent write up Chris!

It's just a shame there are so many scam artists out there taking advantage of the unwary by peddling ineffective add-ons for cars. I just came back from the local car parts store and am always amazed by the huge assortment of miracle fluids for the oil or gas as well as the bolt on stuff. Seems the easier it is to use, the bigger the claims are and the flashier the packaging.

 

As usual, Thermo provides a clear simple explanation. But is that product something that can actually add performance to our cars?

 

No, it isn't.

 

Really?

Would a flat 'no' convince you?