Vehicles with bigger, less fuel-efficient engines will benefitmore from hybrid technology, thus big pickup trucks, vans andSUVs are prime candidates for the gas-saving benefits of hybridtechnology. The Chevy Silverado hybrid pickup feature GM’s Vortec V- and Hydra-Matic L-E four-speed automatictransmission, coupled with hybrid technology that delivers to percent improved fuel economy over GM half-ton pickups. It features a powerful -volt lead-acid battery pack underneaththe rear seat, an auxiliary starter-generator between the engineand the transmission, an electronic control module, and aregenerative braking system, which charges the battery whilebraking, and coasting.With an auxiliary generator capability, the truck’s generatorcan operate when the truck…
Chevy Silverado Hybrid Pickup 2005 Revs It Up In Performance
Jump start your car with Sega parts
[Jenn's] family is a single-car household. Because of this, it’s a little more difficult to get a jump start when the headlights run down the battery. Not wanting to ask the neighbors for help, her husband [Richard] decided to come up with his own solution.
Rummaging through the parts on hand, [Richard] went with his old friend Sonic the Hedgehog. He used two 12-volt, 1 amp Sega Genesis power adapters in parallel hooked up to a 12 volt, 3 amp power supply. The end result is a 12-volt 5 amp source hooked to the car’s electrical system and used…
Laptop running on a sealed lead acid battery
[Viktor's] laptop needed a new battery; he had the trade off between carrying around a cheap but heavy sealed lead acid (SLA) battery, or buying an expensive but light Li-Ion battery. Figuring his old laptop was pretty heavy already, and having an unused SLA available, re-purposing it for his laptop wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Using a boost converter he built out of a custom dip MAX668, he is able to output the necessary 5 amps required. An MC 34161 voltage monitor chip is planned for future revisions, but he’s currently running it just fine. Check out…
Battery desulfator
Hack a Day favorite [Mikey Sklar] is back with a new project. Mini-D is a battery desulfator. If a 12V lead-acid battery sits with a voltage below 12.3V, sulfur crystals will begin to form on the lead plates. This crystal growth increases the internal resistance and eventually makes the battery unusable. A battery desulfator sends high frequency pulses through the battery to create a resonance that will break up the crystals. On a 60lb automotive battery, it will take approximately three weeks to completely desulfate. You can find schematics plus a dozen lines of code for the ATmega169 on…
