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Battery vs HP?

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Old 01-24-2013, 05:22 AM
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Battery vs HP?

I came across with a battery ad and wondering what a battery has to do with horse power. I know 6 cylinders need more cranking power than a 4 cylinders engine and rotary can be easily fire up with a tiny PC680. But will the battery affect the HP? I always thought alternator/charger doing the supplying job.



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Old 01-24-2013, 07:49 AM
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Not reading tiny chart on my phone. That said, a different battery has nothing to do with hp gain or loss.
Old 01-24-2013, 11:54 AM
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It might have some effect, but it's hard to imagine it's as much as shown in that chart.
Old 01-24-2013, 12:23 PM
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If you have a proper battery in the first place, no it won't have any effect. That being said, a 'tiny' battery you should NOT use.

Get something proper, with good cranking amps. That starter should be spinning at around 250rpm (correct if I am wrong someone). And honestly, depends on what weather you live in. If its always warm, you can get away with something 'smaller', but I still would not recommend it. If you live somewhere where winter hits, again, get something with good cranking amps.

Also depends if you have a big stereo system, might be worth getting a deep cycle.


But no, bigger does not equal more hp, lol
Old 01-24-2013, 12:25 PM
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Uhhhh. No. Just like nearly all manufacturer claims for added hp. Bullsh!t.

If you NEED a new battery. Buy one that'll start your car. Otherwise save your money.
Old 01-24-2013, 07:01 PM
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One thing you gotta keep in mind is it's actually the BATTERY that's powering your car. NOT your Alternator.

What the Alternator does is it charges the battery FIRST WHILE the car is getting it's juice from the battery.

this is also why if you pull the battery off, car will stay running, but your alternator will die FAST, cuz it's really just a big *** charger, not exactly a generator.

Does it "increase" HP? nope, but your car will feel like **** (READ: lose HP) if your battery is weak.
Old 01-24-2013, 07:14 PM
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Originally Posted by nycgps
One thing you gotta keep in mind is it's actually the BATTERY that's powering your car. NOT your Alternator.

What the Alternator does is it charges the battery FIRST WHILE the car is getting it's juice from the battery.
That isn't exactly true. The purpose of the car battery is to drive the starter motor. Once the engine is running, the battery acts as a capacitor, in that it filters the electrical circuit and regulates the power output. Should the power draw of the car exceed the charging systems capacity, the battery then supplies power to the system. Now why does the car die when the battery is removed? Because you just opened the circuit.
Old 01-24-2013, 08:08 PM
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don't believe everything you read.

the battery won't affect your horsepower/torque at all.


a battery is like a glass of water under a faucet, the faucet(alternator) keeps the glass full while you drink from the glass through a straw. take the glass out of the equation and you can still drink from the faucet but the water may be aerated(dirty electrical noise from the alternator). so how does a larger or different glass help you make more power? it won't, unless your car can gulp a whole battery(full glass) down in seconds faster than the alternator can refill it, at which point your glass was far too small to begin with.

the car actually drinks the runoff from the glass, which is why the car sees 14+v when running versus 12.6V with the car off. the alternator is in fact upping the voltage and the car has to be tuned to run at that voltage. performance may be hindered if running more or less than the 14v it was designed to run at. this is tuning science. fortunately these cars auto tune based off of air fuel ratios in the exhaust stream so voltage plays little role unless severely high or low to damaging components or shutting them down.

next we will be reading BS about alternators bumping up performance.... whatever to make a buck these days. this is the equivalent of the performance ebay chips... thanks for wasting my time.

Last edited by Karack; 01-24-2013 at 08:17 PM.
Old 01-25-2013, 04:16 AM
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Originally Posted by paimon.soror
That isn't exactly true. The purpose of the car battery is to drive the starter motor. Once the engine is running, the battery acts as a capacitor, in that it filters the electrical circuit and regulates the power output. Should the power draw of the car exceed the charging systems capacity, the battery then supplies power to the system. Now why does the car die when the battery is removed? Because you just opened the circuit.
car does not die when remove the battery, it will run, but it will kill the alternator fast. if the car dies right away, the alternator is already bad.
Old 01-25-2013, 04:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Karack

next we will be reading BS about alternators bumping up performance.... whatever to make a buck these days. this is the equivalent of the performance ebay chips... thanks for wasting my time.
yep, and u have all those wonderful "sprint booster" which claim a 300% performance increase ... LOL
Old 01-25-2013, 07:17 AM
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a battery is like a glass of water under a faucet,
That's got to be the best description I've ever seen of the relation between the battery and alternator.

As far as the horsepower claim goes in that ad... It's from a company in Taiwan. If it you're in the US, you can see even funnier munged ad copy by tuning in Jay Leno when he does "Headlines."

Ken
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