Unbelievable

[theholycow]

Yuck, shipping delays. I'm still waiting for my ELM327 to come from a Hong Kong eBay seller, it's been forever.

[Greyg]

I talked to the guy here at work (Matt) and he said his o2 sensor extenders are in and his MAP sensor modifier is in but he's waiting on the main part yet, hydrogen generator.

Also, my scan guage is in!! I'm going to Brainerd for the NHRA drag racing thing this weekend and we're taking my 07 Town and Country. That should be a good chance to calibrate and play with it. I believe I'm supposed to install it when I have a full tank of gas? Is that correct? I'm going to read the directions somewhere along the line before I install it.

[thornburg]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Yuck, shipping delays. I'm still waiting for my ELM327 to come from a Hong Kong eBay seller, it's been forever.

Dude, I think you got ripped on this one. Or did you pay for surface shipping, not air mail? Surface shipping takes 6-12 weeks and has a very high (comparative) loss rate. Air Mail, or better yet, Express Mail (EMS) is the best way to get things from Asia to the US (or Europe to the US).

Anyway, I hope you've been in contact with the seller...

[GasSavers_BEEF]

the calibration procedure calls for you to start with a full tank of gas and run it I think half empty and fill up again and compare the gallons used to fill it back up with the displayed gallons used and there is a percent of error.

you can install the scangauge without doing all of this but the MPG will be off until it is calibrated but it will give you an idea of what works and what doesn't as far as driving style.

you still need to input engine size and (if you care) tank size.

[dkjones96]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

Fourth - If you run a separate battery and want to improve your gas mileage even more then power up the 12 volt system with the separate battery and a regulator so that you completely unload the alternator on the ICE from wasting gasoline. Grid power is much cheeper than gasoline generated power.

A single gallon of gasoline can typically create 14-16KWh worth of electricity that is readily available for use at generator terminals(your alternator).

My mom, for example, pays 18.9 cents a KWh, meaning to have the 14KWh she would pay $2.64 assuming batteries are perfectly efficient at charging and the charger was perfectly efficient at its ac->dc conversion, which they aren't. The lead acid battery itself is only about 75% efficient at taking a charge meaning our KWh requirement just went up to 17.5. The charger itself is about 80% efficient bringing us up to 21KWh.

So now we are at $3.96. That is actually more than she pays for gas.

Also, deep cycle marine batteries are up to 125Ah batteries meaning they can only store 1.5KWh of electricity while weighing in at about 50 pounds. Enough gasoline to generate 1.5KWh of electricity is about half a pound.

[thornburg]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

My mom, for example, pays 18.9 cents a KWh

That seems rather high, to me. Is that a peak rate? If you have variable rates (based on time of day), you should be paying less than $0.10/kWh at night. If you don't have variable rates, $0.189 seems quite high.

EDIT: Just did a quick google search, and most back-of-the-napkin type calculations I see online estimate the cost of alternator generated electricity at somewhere between $0.30 and $0.60 (adjusting for a cost of gasoline at around $3.80-$4.00). You estimate it at the bottom end (about $0.28), and that would indicate that you are suggesting that charging a battery takes 50% more energy than will be stored. I haven't looked that one up yet, but it sounds wrong to me.

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

I'm paying about 7.5c atm, the guys who keep coming to the door tell me I am about to get reamed and should lock in a price plan at 25c to protect myself...... I'll take the variable rate thanks, if I locked in 2 or 3 years ago when they first started panic mongering, I'd have cost myself a thousand or two by now.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by thornburg

Dude, I think you got ripped on this one. Or did you pay for surface shipping, not air mail? Surface shipping takes 6-12 weeks and has a very high (comparative) loss rate. Air Mail, or better yet, Express Mail (EMS) is the best way to get things from Asia to the US (or Europe to the US).

Anyway, I hope you've been in contact with the seller...

Yeah, I've emailed him a couple times. He doesn't communicate well, perhaps due to language difficulties.

He keeps saying 7-14 business days; once 14 business days had passed since he responded to my first email, I emailed again and he promised that it has been shipped and gave me a Hong Kong Air tracking number that was pretty worthless...and said 7-14 days again. I'm giving him the benefit of a doubt, but after 28 business days I think I'm going to have to dispute.

I hate the thought of having to leave negative feedback and then receive undeserved negative feedback. I've got 100% good feedback right now.

[dkjones96]

Originally Posted by thornburg

That seems rather high, to me. Is that a peak rate? If you have variable rates (based on time of day), you should be paying less than $0.10/KWh at night. If you don't have variable rates, $0.189 seems quite high.

They don't do variable rates for her unless she leases a meter that has a $50 a month charge attached to it. She actually just changed companies because AEP had just raised her rate to $0.239. I need to check what I pay here in NM again. In Texas I always had a $100+ electric bill even being in an apartment smaller than the one I have now. But I lived with someone at the time.

[thornburg]

Originally Posted by theholycow

I hate the thought of having to leave negative feedback and then receive undeserved negative feedback. I've got 100% good feedback right now.

I thought eBay did away with the seller being able to leave neg on the buyer, and now only buyers could leave feedback?