12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V

Posted By: Jeepmon

12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/14/13 06:50 PM

I see everybody jumping on the 16V band wagon.. Spending hundreds of dollars to convert their batteries and chargers and alternator over to 16V.. which got me to thinking about this and other than being the hip.. popular thing to do.. I just dont understand why people will want to fork over the money for something that isnt needed.

During my recent upgrade to a larger motor with 15:1 compression.. it was obvious my little 12V system wasnt going to cut it, specially when the batteries become weak.. My car, as will many other racers.. has two 12V batteries, each paralleled together.. I started pulling wires.. relocating solenoids and turned my system into a 24V system.. but the 24V is only to spin the starter motor over and is not used for anything else..

The first 12V battery still runs the lights, fan, pump and all the electronics.. the second battery is completely isolated and is only used on the starter circuit... at 24VDC, it spins the motor over mighty good too... almost too good.

Knowing that it wont.. but fearing that it might.. I went ahead and lowered the voltage for the starter, I have since swapped the second 12V battery for an old Volkswagon 6V battery.. which makes the voltage to the starter now an 18V system.

The first 12V battery will still be charged by the alternator and will still get a "top off" with the battery charger in between rounds.. But according to my math.. I will have to charge up the second 6V battery once.. maybe twice thru out the year, since the starter motor only spins over for a matter of a few seconds each time.

I'm not suggesting this mod for everyone.. but if you have the knowledge to draw up a schematic on how to isolate and run the 2nd battery.. think about it and see if you can come up with any flaws..

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/14/13 07:11 PM

Back when I was running every weekend with my Daytona (8.60's@150mph) and on my second 16 volt battery I made the switch back to a 12 volt Sears Platinum battery. The car ran exactly the same ET with both systems even without an alternator. Both set-ups were with one battery. In the Duster I use the same battery but since have added an alternator. The only benefit with the 16 volt system that I ever noticed was that the engine turned over faster. Now I get over 6 years out of my batteries before i use them for something else. The 16 volts were good for about 3 years and I couldn't use them in anything else that I owned.

Posted By: MRMOPAR622

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/14/13 08:02 PM

We are running 2 red-top 12 volts in both cars and the black dragster,and one 16 volt in the red dragster,no alternator's on any of them.We will be replacing the 2 red-tops in each to 1 16 volt for the weight savings.1 good 16 volt will do the job,but don't last as long and the 16 volt chargers don't charge the battery back up as fast as the 12 volt chargers.
Would really like to know which is the best battery for a race car.Everyone seems to think one is better than the other or it does not matter at all which battery you run.The new $1200.00+ batteries are out of the question.
What about using something like a motorcycle battery as the 2nd one in place of a 6 volt?
There are a lot of good mind's here on Moparts

maybe if we put all our minds together we can come up with what's best!

Posted By: Crizila

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/14/13 10:15 PM

Hike! - A few things to keep in mind: Overly complicated electrical systems = trouble. Charging batteries between rounds is NOT for door slammers. Find out what your ignition system likes is key. Ever wonder what your ignition system is seeing at the end of a run if you need to charge your battery when you get back to the pits??

Things that were ment to run between 13.8 and 14.2 volts ( lights, electric motors, solonoids, relays, batteries,etc.) will have a shortened life span if you try to run them out of their design parameters.

Posted By: mokid

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/14/13 11:15 PM

If your car is wired and grounded properly a 12volt system works, I re-wired my car using the spaggetti Mender wiring syestem and everything worked way better,fuel punp, fans, etc, They don't even recommened 16v check'em out great peaple,

Posted By: MRMOPAR622

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 01:54 AM

No alternators.....the battery going below 12 volts during the run is my reason at the present for running the 16 volt battery.Running alcohol in both the dragsters and the faster the engine turns the better they crank on alcohol.But if someone has a better idea,better choice in batteries I'm all for it.

Posted By: Leon441

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 02:23 AM

12 volts works fine until the voltage drops below 10.5 during cranking and your MSD quits due to low voltage. Under normal circumstances this never happens. But, have you ever forgot to turn the fuel pump on or anything stupid in a late round and spun the motor over and the car did not start. Well it happens.

My reasons for going to 16 volts were simple. I liked the way new cars light the highway. My old bulbs do with 16 volts. I like the fans, water pump, and fuel pump spinning harder. I also noticed a battery voltage drop when turning high RPM with 6 large nitrous soleniods open. With a 16 volt system your battery is basically dead at 13.5 volts. So little things like MSD never get low enough to quit.

I had considered switching back to 12 volts. Then some things changed at work that made me rethink this.

We have many 12 volts systems at work that were simply giving us a fit. DATA radios eat battery like crazy. They have surge protection that eats .7 volts. So you loose .3 volts and people go crazy. Electronic guys will quickly catch on to why that would be. So when you are on backup you quickly can be under 11.8 volts and declining fast. 11.5 and the Radio quits. We loose power quite often in storms and just normal power company service work. We can't have the safe passage of our freight stopped because we are hard headed and stuck in a 12 volt world. We now run 16 volts on these systems. Just like race cars we have to be careful and not overcharge our batteries. Not due to the battery health but the equipment they feed.

Leon

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 02:33 AM

According to my racepak my voltage never went below 12.6 volts during a quarter-mile pass with a 60 amp alternator.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 03:22 PM

what about weight savings? are 16 volt batteries lighter than "standard" 12v car batteries?

in a vehicle with an alternator, is there a lightweight 12v battery that you can run instead of going 16v?

what's the cheapest, lightest battery out there? the guy I'm helping is NOT going to be spending hundreds of dollars on a battery.

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 04:17 PM

Not sure who you are asking but there are some very light batteries out there, some being VERY expensive. Here is the info on the batteries my son and I have been using in our cars with lots of good luck. It says it is 60 pounds.
http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-automotive-battery-group-size-65-price/p-02850065000P

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 04:20 PM

32 pounds but probably a lot more money.

http://shop.turbostart.com/16-Volt-Racing-Audio_c3.htm

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 04:39 PM

Most guys I know have the battery in the rear of the car
so the weight isnt really a bad thing(but yes, weight
is weight).. I've never had any issue with the 12v
system and I dont plan on going to the 16v... I've
tried multiple things when it comes to the charging
system over the years, no alt, alt with a switch on
the field to turn it off and it never made any difference...
I havent even put a charger on my car in years...
the last time I did was when I unplugged my alt output
to plug my timing light in and I forgot to plug it
back on... now I use the Flaming River light so it
has its own power
NOTE
that same battery has been in the car for at least
8 years

Posted By: MRMOPAR622

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 05:23 PM

But what is the most powerful of all batteries?Most of us may can get by with out the strongest battery,but all of us really need the strongest & best battery that's made.Lets start with a clean sheet and focus on only the battery nothing(not voltage,charging system,using or not using alt.) else and see which volt and name battery we end up with.

Posted By: Al_Alguire

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 05:27 PM

Well still happy with my boring plain old 16V XS Power batteries...They work great for me but maybe I need more compression.

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 05:38 PM

Quote:

But what is the most powerful of all batteries?Most of us may can get by with out the strongest battery,but all of us really need the strongest & best battery that's made.Lets start with a clean sheet and focus on only the battery nothing(not voltage,charging system,using or not using alt.) else and see which volt and name battery we end up with.

.... I cant even say if the gell is better
than the conventional.... all I know is that Chrysler
looked at the gell for the production cars and they
decided to stay with the conventional style for some
reason

Posted By: poisondart2

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 05:53 PM

Quote:

But what is the most powerful of all batteries?Most of us may can get by with out the strongest battery,but all of us really need the strongest & best battery that's made.Lets start with a clean sheet and focus on only the battery nothing(not voltage,charging system,using or not using alt.) else and see which volt and name battery we end up with.

Billy the battery that has the most CCA and Reserve is the strongest like the Braille which has 1115 CCA 150 Reserve but with that said I use yellow tops and I have two that are 10 years old and still dont charge them

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 06:06 PM

If Mopar guys would get out and race and test more instead of constantly looking for that next TRICK part out on the market we as a group would be a lot better off. I've done it too but probably the most stupid thing that we as racers do is remove the alternator in hopes of going faster. Sorry folks, it doesn't work. Here's a list of what I am running during a pass with a 12 volt battery and maintaining 12.6 volts. (60 amp one wire alt)
starting engine
electronic ign with MSD 7 and misc. rpm boxes
Racepak and electronic dash
electric water pump
electric radiator fan (left on during pass)
electric tranny fan (left on during pass)
electronic shifter
BG400 fuel pump
rear taillights (at night)
tranny brake
delay box
line-loc

I think that's all.

Posted By: HEMIFRED

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 06:13 PM

I could not decide 12v or 16v and at the time my 12v were ok . So I went and bought a 12v/16v alterntor that way I can make the choice later

Posted By: Crizila

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 07:34 PM

Quote:

But what is the most powerful of all batteries?Most of us may can get by with out the strongest battery,but all of us really need the strongest & best battery that's made.Lets start with a clean sheet and focus on only the battery nothing(not voltage,charging system,using or not using alt.) else and see which volt and name battery we end up with.

On the automotive side, a 12 vlt 8D wet sell truck battery will light you socks. Used to be a popular option in blown altereds of the 60's. Two of them in the trunk and you could make a - Cordoba - grab air.

Posted By: Crizila

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 07:36 PM

Quote:

Well still happy with my boring plain old 16V XS Power batteries...They work great for me but maybe I need more compression.

Posted By: MRMOPAR622

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/15/13 08:46 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Well still happy with my boring plain old 16V XS Power batteries...They work great for me but maybe I need more compression.

I think might have more to do with cu. in. than the CR!

Posted By: MRMOPAR622

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 12:13 AM

Here is something that might be of interest.The women that lives next door forgot to turn her parking lights off this morning and run her battery down to low to crank her SUV,to make a long story short & get to the point I pulled her battery out to put a charge on it and preform a test I put it in my red dragster.The 12 volt battery would turn the engine about a 1/2-3/4 round at a time,but when I turned on the electric fan & water pump & tail light the fan & pump sounded like they were running at 1/2 speed or less and the tail light was a little dim.With the 16 volt that is to weak to even turn the engine at all it will run both the water pump & fan at full speed(as far as I can tell from the sound) & the tail light is bright.

Posted By: MegaDart

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 12:43 AM

if it's 15:1cr then I would expect it's a race only setup. 16volt all the way.
If it's street car or only raced occasionally then 12volt.
Don't make it harder than it is...

Posted By: Chris'sBarracuda

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 12:50 AM

This is waaaaaay over complicated..

Chris..

Posted By: Leon441

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 01:45 AM

UNLAWFUL RACE & ENGINE TECH

I ran an alternater up until 2005. The bearing locked up breaking the belt at 8,000 and took out the water pump wiring during the burn out. The motor had catastrophic failure late in the pass due to overheating. I did not buy another alternator because I ran a 16Volt system and did not need to. The car would have been more overweight with one.

I am planning on installing an alternator as I plan on doing lengthy street drives this year. Not class racing with a low minimum weight so it should not hurt anything.

I don't understand why this thread turned into a debate on whether or not to run an alternator.

Leon

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 01:50 AM

Heck its Winter time. We could be talking about "how to paint my Mopar with a paint roller"

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 02:15 AM

Quote:

Heck its Winter time. We could be talking about "how to paint my Mopar with a paint roller"

Isnt that the truth ... but I still use a spray gun

Posted By: J_BODY

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 02:31 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Heck its Winter time. We could be talking about "how to paint my Mopar with a paint roller"

Isnt that the truth ... but I still use a spray gun

Wagner power painter??

While I can see Don's electronic wizardry kicking in OD... I'd still be thinking of the basics... Do I want to carry two batts in my race car?? Answer for me has been a resounding NO. I have one 12v batt on the car. I have the water pump and fan wired into a four pole plug that I hook up to a separate battery when I hit the pit area for cool down. I also have two good batteries in my tow vehicle which if the need arises, they are ready to go. I do run an alternator, and the wiring for the waterpump getting damaged by an flinging belt is astronomincal (anything can happen!).

....while I do my burnout with the water pump and fan on, I shut both of them down on my final stage and trip the waterpump as soon as I cross the stripe.... it's served me well and to date i've never had any reprocussions. Basically I'm only powering the fuel pump and ignition on a pass.

Posted By: Jeepmon

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 09:29 AM

Quote:

....while I do my burnout with the water pump and fan on, I shut both of them down on my final stage and trip the waterpump as soon as I cross the stripe.... it's served me well and to date i've never had any reprocussions. Basically I'm only powering the fuel pump and ignition on a pass.

J-body... The only problem I was having was cranking the motor over.. if it wasnt done just right, we'd get kickback and aweful screeching/grinding sound.. even with two 12V batteries... fully charged and hooked together..

My first thought was to convert to the 16V system, but I dont have the pocketbook the other members of the B1-aires Boys club have.. so I had to get a little creative..

Posted By: MRMOPAR622

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 04:00 PM

Quote:

Quote:

....while I do my burnout with the water pump and fan on, I shut both of them down on my final stage and trip the waterpump as soon as I cross the stripe.... it's served me well and to date i've never had any reprocussions. Basically I'm only powering the fuel pump and ignition on a pass.

J-body... The only problem I was having was cranking the motor over.. if it wasnt done just right, we'd get kickback and aweful screeching/grinding sound.. even with two 12V batteries... fully charged and hooked together..

My first thought was to convert to the 16V system, but I dont have the pocketbook the other members of the B1-aires Boys club have.. so I had to get a little creative..

I'm like the others know very little about the batteries,but trying to learn.But a $269.00 16 volt Rock battery will solve your kick back problems on start up.Since going to 16 volts have not had that happen or broke any starters or flywheels,Hmmm that might answer my question on 16 volts vs 12 volts!Most of us can tell anyone what heads,cam,carb,crank,ect-ect,but we don't know Sh*t about batteries.

PS after we get straight on the Batteries,we can always start another post on alternators vs no alternators test session!

Posted By: Jeepmon

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 05:15 PM

Its $269 for the battery.. $200 for the alternator and another $250-ish for the battery charger..

It all boils down to this.. if you have a large CID, high compression motor and only 1 battery.. then a 16V system might be what you need..

But if you run a two battery system, there are simple and cheap alternatives..

Posted By: gregsdart

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 05:40 PM

This is for guys wanting to run a 12v system, with no alternater or a constant discharge situation.
This info comes from a chart showing lead acid battery voltage versus draw.
We want to figure the running voltage at two points, WOT at the top end of the run, (highest load during run) and warm cranking voltage when battery is 50 percent discharged, to see whether the ignition will still work and get the car running for the pass.
To calculate the percent of draw in amp hr rating, an example is a 10 amp continuous draw on a 100 amp/hr battery is 10 percent, or stated as c/10. A 5 percent draw would be 5amps on a 100 amp hour battery, etc. Amp/hr rating divided by draw equals c/xx, and then you can check the chart for running voltage. For our purposes, a running voltage at 50 percent discharge on a twelve volt battery is about what I figure is about as low as we can go to figure our capacity for number of runs we can make with a given load and still get back to the pits. Below 50 percent charge, voltage starts to drop much faster.
At 5 percent draw under load the running voltage is 12.3
10 percent, rv is 12.0
20 percent rv is 11.55
33 percent rv is 11.20
You can see how the voltage drops off during running as the load increases, so battery size is very important. I figure I had better not pick a battery with less than 10 times my draw at WOT, which is a water pump and MSD digital seven ignition plus the Deadenbear box. So I need to figure two things, how many passes before the battery will be at or less than 50 percent charge on the return road, and how much battery I need to stay below a 10 percent draw during a run. I will update with the draw of my stuff.
battery chart
http://www.scubaengineer.com/documents/lead_acid_battery_charging_graphs.pdf

Posted By: Al_Alguire

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 05:48 PM

So what does two GOOD 12V batteries, a 12V charger and 12V alternator cost?? You point out the total to switch to 16V ignoring the original cost of the 12V stuff. I dont think that is a fair comparison as SOMEONE Paid for the 12V stuff. It's an "upgrade" like anything else on a racear. Do you need 15-1 compression and B1 heads or could you have a racecar with 906 heads and 10-1 compression. Could you have a raceaar with a stock block or do you NEED a World block? IMO you need to make a fair comparison like anything else on a racecar.

Oh yeah K.I.S.S

Posted By: polyspheric

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 05:52 PM

Mercedes "Dynastart" system used a pair of batteries in series for starting and in parallel when running and charging... 75 years ago.

Posted By: gregsdart

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 06:02 PM

Quote:

This is for guys wanting to run a 12v system, with no alternater or a constant discharge situation.
This info comes from a chart showing lead acid battery voltage versus draw.
We want to figure the running voltage at two points, WOT at the top end of the run, (highest load during run) and warm cranking voltage when battery is 50 percent discharged, to see whether the ignition will still work and get the car running for the pass.
To calculate the percent of draw in amp hr rating, an example is a 10 amp continuous draw on a 100 amp/hr battery is 10 percent, or stated as c/10. A 5 percent draw would be 5amps on a 100 amp hour battery, etc. Amp/hr rating divided by draw equals c/xx, and then you can check the chart for running voltage. For our purposes, a running voltage at 50 percent discharge on a twelve volt battery is about what I figure is about as low as we can go to figure our capacity for number of runs we can make with a given load and still get back to the pits. Below 50 percent charge, voltage starts to drop much faster.
At 5 percent draw under load the running voltage is 12.3
10 percent, rv is 12.0
20 percent rv is 11.55
33 percent rv is 11.20
You can see how the voltage drops off during running as the load increases, so battery size is very important. I figure I had better not pick a battery with less than 10 times my draw at WOT, which is a water pump and MSD digital seven ignition plus the Deadenbear box. So I need to figure two things, how many passes before the battery will be at or less than 50 percent charge on the return road, and how much battery I need to stay below a 10 percent draw during a run. I will update with the draw of my stuff.
battery chart
http://www.scubaengineer.com/documents/lead_acid_battery_charging_graphs.pdf

My amperage draw during a run=
MSD 7 7.5 amps
water pump 7.0amps
delay box 1.0 amps
Total constant running amps = 15.5 amps
Momentary draw during staging
transbrake 20 amps?

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 06:24 PM

Quote:

Quote:

This is for guys wanting to run a 12v system, with no alternater or a constant discharge situation.
This info comes from a chart showing lead acid battery voltage versus draw.
We want to figure the running voltage at two points, WOT at the top end of the run, (highest load during run) and warm cranking voltage when battery is 50 percent discharged, to see whether the ignition will still work and get the car running for the pass.
To calculate the percent of draw in amp hr rating, an example is a 10 amp continuous draw on a 100 amp/hr battery is 10 percent, or stated as c/10. A 5 percent draw would be 5amps on a 100 amp hour battery, etc. Amp/hr rating divided by draw equals c/xx, and then you can check the chart for running voltage. For our purposes, a running voltage at 50 percent discharge on a twelve volt battery is about what I figure is about as low as we can go to figure our capacity for number of runs we can make with a given load and still get back to the pits. Below 50 percent charge, voltage starts to drop much faster.
At 5 percent draw under load the running voltage is 12.3
10 percent, rv is 12.0
20 percent rv is 11.55
33 percent rv is 11.20
You can see how the voltage drops off during running as the load increases, so battery size is very important. I figure I had better not pick a battery with less than 10 times my draw at WOT, which is a water pump and MSD digital seven ignition plus the Deadenbear box. So I need to figure two things, how many passes before the battery will be at or less than 50 percent charge on the return road, and how much battery I need to stay below a 10 percent draw during a run. I will update with the draw of my stuff.
battery chart
http://www.scubaengineer.com/documents/lead_acid_battery_charging_graphs.pdf

My amperage draw during a run=
MSD 7 7.5 amps
water pump 7.0amps
delay box 1.0 amps
Total constant running amps = 15.5 amps
Momentary draw during staging
transbrake 20 amps?

No electric fuel pump or cooling fan?

I forgot about the alcohol.

Posted By: Jeepmon

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 06:52 PM

Quote:

So what does two GOOD 12V batteries, a 12V charger and 12V alternator cost?? You point out the total to switch to 16V ignoring the original cost of the 12V stuff. I dont think that is a fair comparison as SOMEONE Paid for the 12V stuff. It's an "upgrade" like anything else on a racear. Do you need 15-1 compression and B1 heads or could you have a racecar with 906 heads and 10-1 compression. Could you have a raceaar with a stock block or do you NEED a World block? IMO you need to make a fair comparison like anything else on a racecar.

Oh yeah K.I.S.S

Yeah, you make a good point, as I forgot about the initial costs.. but to answer your question.. about half (if not a little less) than the cost of the 16V equipment..

Posted By: gregsdart

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 09:15 PM

The injection and alky let me run without the fan or an electric fuel pump, both which would kick the draw way up. The fan alone doubles the steady draw on the battery. Maybe I should look into a magneto! (kidding)

Posted By: jamesc

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/16/13 10:56 PM

most of the decent sized electric fans are around 13-15 amps, trans brake solenoids are normally 14-15ish (for a transmission specialties type), electric water pumps around 7-8.

i will say that the magnafuel prostar 500 on ricks car is a cement mixer and pulls the most current of any fuel pump i've tested, around 15 amps. the meziere radiator mounted water pump also pulled quite a bit at around 13-14 amps iirc. this car has a 16 volt battery and alternator. all loads were checked with a Fluke i30 hall effect current clamp and Fluke 87v DMM. i haven't checked the MSD digital 7 plus yet and have suspicions about checking ignition draws unless the engine is under a load. i can trigger ignitions to 10k+ RPM but without being loaded i suspect the current draws might be less than when loaded. FWIW the multispark ignitions i've tested all change to single spark around 3000 RPM

Posted By: gregsdart

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/17/13 04:05 AM

MSD web sight said 1.1 amps per 1,000rpm.

Posted By: jamesc

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/17/13 04:25 AM

i'd like to do a real life test but haven't been able to get a fluke 289 (logging multimeter) at a price i'm willing to spend. iirc the crane ignition tester i have will drive an ignition to over 19k if the ignition will go that far. iirc no ignition i've tested pulled more than 8 amps with most being in the 7 amp range. of all the ignitions i've tested the crane HI-8 was the meanest but i've never tested anything like the MSD-8. i don't think any MSD 7 i've tested pulled anywhere near the 12 amps they claim at 12k RPM but there are a lot of variables

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/17/13 04:43 AM

As Mopar guys do we are really over-thinking this guys. Do you know how many guys have Racepaks in their cars so they can download the info after a pass and really breakdown what exactly is going on during a pass.

Posted By: MegaDart

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/17/13 05:03 AM

why do you "need" an alternator?
When I switched over I sold my Optima redtop and East Coast alternator to a local racer and offset my cost...

Posted By: gregsdart

Re: 12V.... 16V... 18V.... 24V - 02/17/13 04:16 PM

Quote:

As Mopar guys do we are really over-thinking this guys. Do you know how many guys have Racepaks in their cars so they can download the info after a pass and really breakdown what exactly is going on during a pass.

For me, because I don't have a race pack, or expensive gauges. So my only way to come up with the right system is to do just that. Now I also understand why the 16v system came about. A heavy battery draw during a run with a ton of accessory's running on a twelve volt system will cause so much voltage drop with a car size battery that it won't keep the voltage up where it needs to be for enough time. Plus you can only use about 50 percent of the full charge, but a 16 v will deliver about 75 to 80 percent before it gives up. So pound for pound, the 16v is the winner for a no alternator setup. For me though, with a low draw and the fact that I can go enough rounds with a single 12v, that is the cheap route for me.
The one question I have though, is how much extra wattage do the accessories draw due to the higher voltage? That may even up the playing field just a bit. With the added speed of the starter, waterpump, fans etc, that extra speed is not free.