The National Voltage Star

For years this blog has been a one size fits all, well we are going to make some changes this month. The National Voltage Star now has a sister site, The Auto Electric Forum. Basically the NVS will be a site that deals with auto electrical customizing in the street rod world, and the AEF will deal with all aspects of auto electrical. In the near future we will add a third blog that will concentrate on high output alternators for the car audio world. Feel free to join each via RSS feed.In the month of February we will be doing updates to this site, this will be much more user friendly, we are looking forward to sharing a great year with you.

Top ten questions about high output. (High amp) alternators.Once a year I do a top ten high output alternator question and answer, I have saved up 10 question so here we go.I try to do a top 10 question blog one per year, I now have 10 questions so lets get to it.10) Why do you recommend running higher voltage in your high output alternators?A: Higher voltage reduces the amps required. If you have a load of 7000 watts and you are at 14 volts you will need 500 amps to power the load. However if you are at 16 volts you only need 437.5 amps. So you could power this load in two ways, 2 high output alternators at say 300 amps each running 14 volts or with two with dual alternators at 250 amps each running 16 volts. because you are at 16 volts you will not need to drive the alternators as hard to power it. You can check this on our tools page of our website http://www.rushps.com/tools.html9) If higher voltage reduces amperage requirements then why are factory regulators set at around 14 volts?A: a higher voltage requires more HP to produce. The automotive manufactures are walking a fine line between power and MPG they have found the best point to be around 14 volts this is magnified by a high output alternator.8) Will a high amperage alternator damage my vehicle?A: high amperage alternator will not hurt you vehicle in any way, in fact it can dramatically improve it. When you add additional loads you are reducing the available amperage for the entire vehicle, this can drive down the voltage. That will cause everything to run hot which can shorten the life of all electrical devices in your vehicle including the wiring. Keep in mind the high amp alternator will only produce what is needed by the vehicle, if you have a high amperage alternator ratted at 200 amps and you are only pulling 150 amp out then that is what the alternator will produce.7) Will higher voltage damage my vehicle?A: It can, great care must be taken here, if we are talking about a computer controlled fuel injected vehicle then you should never go over 17 volts, and remember both alternators share a ground so even if your extra vehicle load is completely isolated then they can affect each other. Also most batteries will bubble or mist above 17 volts, yes even “sealed” batteries.6) Can you adjust the set point on any alternator?A: most all alternators are set and cant be adjusted. Many newer alternators cant be modified because the alternator must “talk” to the ECU (vehicles computer). However we can modify the alternator in the vast majority of vehicles so that they can be adjusted. The simplest and easiest way to make the system adjustable is to install an external regulator.5) What is so great about an external regulator?A: well besides the fact that they are available in a voltage adjustable format the main reason is heat. The regulator is very susceptible to heat. If you get it out of the alternator it will last longer because it will run cooler. This will also allow it to operate more efficiently. All electrical devices are less efficient when warm.4) Why do you recommend converting to multi-ribbed serpentine pulley?A: in the late 80s and early 90s when big brother started to force higher MPG on the manufactures. They started to experiment with electrical control units (ECU), with the increased electrical loads they quickly found that they needed more power in the alternator and they needed it at lower RPM. “V” belts are not good at turning a tight radius, they are only good for around 2″, but a multi-ribbed belt can grip a pulley as small as 40mm, that gives you much better power at idle speeds and that will give you less stress on electrical devices, better MPG, brighter headlights, hotter spark, and more air from the heater.3) why don’t you like aluminum pulleys?A: aluminum pulleys are probably the biggest ripoff out there! Do you know that not one factory alternator uses an aluminum pulley? Aluminum pulleys are much cheaper and we all know the manufactures are all about getting it as cheap as possible, so why don’t they use them? Because they cant afford to replace them every one to two years. Next time you are at a wrecking yard take a look at some pulleys the engines. You will notice the plastic pulleys have huge valleys cut into them, in fact you will notice that the steel idler pulleys have been cut by the belt. The plastic pulleys are 3 times as hard as the aluminum pulley and the steel is 10 time as hard. Now the cheapskates at fly by night high amps are us will tell you “ we have a high strength anodize coating on the pulley”, O.K. the fact that you put the coating on the pulley tells me you know it is not right and that the belt will destroy the pulley without it. Second point is the coating will not last as long as the plastic pulley will. All of our pulleys are steel and we have the ability to custom build any pulley you may need.2) what is the most power you can pull out of an alternator?A: how fast things change, when I first started this company the worlds most powerful alternator available was a unit that was as large as a 4cyl engine and it was about as heavy, but it could produce a max of 350 amps with 225 at around 1000 eng RPM. Today we can produce the same amount of power out of an alternator that would bolt onto any engine, however the best we can do is only around 200 amps but that is at 800 engine RPM. Actually we could build a 500 amp but the problem is it would not produce any power below 2500 RPM. The alternator must spin fast enough to produce a magnetic field and that is what limits us from going higher than 350. So if you need more power than we can produce in a single alternator then we must add alternators to match your requirements. Here is a major benefit to running more than one alternator, lets say you need 350 amps for your stereo and your vehicles electrical needs, if we build a single alternator you will only have around 200 amps at an idle. But if we build 2 alternators of 200 amps each you will have 50 amps more than you need and you will have up to 250 amps available at an idle. You may be thinking you cant put dual alternators on my vehicle, there is no room. Fact is we can design brackets for any vehicle.1) Why are your high amp alternators more expensive than company X?A: this one never goes away, why does a Mercedes cost more than Yugo? Quality, we don’t cut corners, if your vendors cant provide us products that are up to our standards we will build the product ourselves. Everything is 100% new, and is the best possible quality. You may be able to find an alternator that is ½ as much as our alternators are, but over the life of the alternator you will replace our “competitors” alternator 4 times for every one of ours. The other factor is we are the only company with a lifetime warranty, I cant afford to have them come back, if you are going to offer this you must have high quality parts. Many of my customers will buy junkyard alternators, clean up the case and install a new stator, or even worse install a smaller pulley on a stock alternator, that is the only way to get them that cheap and make a profit. We understand that with the way the economy is today, you need the best bang for your buck, we provide you with a high amp alternator that will not need to be replaced every 6 months.Do you have a question that is not here? Send me a note darren@rushps.com, check our website www.rushps.com or just give me a call 801-557-7684

Well if you are like me you have decided not to participate in the recession, depression, hopey-change, or whatever we are calling this funk we seem to be in. so let’s talk about Christmas toys for your street rod, but before it do I need to do a disclaimer for the year, the tech tips and comments in this article are the sole responsibility of Rush Power Systems and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors, owners, or management of the publication you are reading. Now having said that I need to point out that Rush Power Systems is NOT a green company, and IS a capitalist company, if anything should offend you please feel free to direct the comments to Darren@rushps.com or 801-557-7684, please note I will only laugh at you. But hey if you need technical advice use the same contact info, and then I will not laugh at you. 

Let’s start off with satellite radio, what a nose dive that has become. So you have billions in start up costs, your main offering is no commercials, then you start doing commercials and what happens people cancel services. Today adding satellite radio hardware has become quite cheap, however you are still looking at around $10 per month for service. I think it will come back if big brother goes after talk radio and if you are into talk radio this may be a good product for you. A more likely scenario is HD radio will replace satellite radio if continues to run commercials. 

Next we have HD radio, it looks like it is starting to catch on, although it is at a snail’s pace. I purchased my first HD for my Jeep CJ that I am rebuilding and I must admit it’s got great sound quality, however I still use my iPod more than the radio. Technology is starting to catch up to the hype.  Let me put it this way, if you looked into satellite radio and liked what you found, but just did not want to pay the monthly fee, get HD you will love it. On a bit of a side note let me say this, I have heard a lot of resistance to car audio in street rods. There is good reason for this, a good 60% of the time they are wired wrong. Here is the problem, car audio guys at the stereo shops know very little about wiring. If you take an average modern car in they will look the vehicle up on the computer, give the installer a wiring kit which will allow the stereo to plug directly into the factory plug. There is no information on older cars and they are not going to get a wiring diagram for your vehicle. They get under the dash and find the nearest 12 volt and key on 12 volt wire, which is usually the brake wire, which is why your stereo pops of cuts out when you hit the brake. If you want it done right take it to a shop that does wiring, or take a wiring diagram in with you and show the installer the wire you want them to use. By the way we beat anyone’s price 99% on car audio of the time.

Bluetooth add-ons, for sending data and information Bluetooth is great, for sending voice to your cell phone, I think we are not quite there yet, however it is getting better. Now if you don’t know what BT is, most modern cell phones have it built in. BT is a wireless way of sending data and voice; most modern car audio head units have this built in. You can link your phone to your stereo for the ultimate in hands free, but keep this in mind if you are reading this it’s probably not for your street rod, loud exhausts and wind noise do not work well with BT.

The iPod USB, in my opinion this is the best thing that has happened to car audio in a long time. Today car stereo head units have emulated PC computers, the iPod input works via USB, which stands for universal serial bus, and it’s a way to get information from one device to the computer or stereo in this case. For years we have been installing iPods loaded with a few hundred to over 10,000 songs as a mass music storage device for the stereo, attach a cable, and put the iPod in the glove box and you are done. The only problem is you need to buy a the car stereo then spend $100 or more for a iPod, with the USB connection you can buy a $10.00 thumb drive and load around 250 songs. But keep in mind, no matter which way you go sound quality is not the same as CD, although most people are very happy with the iPod quality. So you don’t have a computer but you want to take advantage of this option, just give us a call we can put your music on the drive for you.

Video, only thing to report here is price, it has dropped dramatically. Today you can get monitors with built in DVD players, loaded with several games, wireless remotes for the games, and wireless headphones. The video monitor can be the rear view mirrors, and ultra small cameras make grate modern curb feelers.

Navigation has because easier to use, and the price has come down, having said that I am still going to recommend going with the navigation option from your cell phone company. Anything you see in your daily driver or on the showroom floor can be done in your street rod, for the most part anyway. If you have seen the Ford product known as “sync” system, you can have it in your street rod, you can have video, navigation, and advanced security, in fact today we have a computer controlled fuse panel for your wiring. Like the factory sensor to tell you how close you are to the object behind you? You can install it in your street rod. Technology can be a fun, helpful, and eye-catching addition to your vehicle.   

Everyone have a great holiday season.

Darren Flint

Rush Power Systems

801-557-7684

Well the world leader in high amp alternators and dual alternator systems, Rush Power Systems has done it again, this time our mad scientists have come up with a bracket kit for the 3.7 and 4.7 Chrysler/Jeep engines. How about running up to 3 extra alternators? That’s a total of up to 1450 amps! Think your car cant have dual alternators? Need more power? Just give us a call, 801-557-7684 or send us a note sales@rushps.com, we can build high amp alternators for any vehicle, we can dual alternators any vehicle. We can fabricate any bracket, we machine our own pulleys, we build the worlds best high amp alternators! Here is the best part, due to the fact that we can build custom overdrive pulleys, we can give you full power at idle or any other RPM you would like.

The wiring of a vehicle is the central nervous system, get it right and you will have a many years of enjoyment, get it wrong and you will not - its that simple. Having said that this is not rocket science, you can wire your car, even if you have never done it before.  People treat this as the last step before upholstery, when in fact it should be a main part of the project planning. Lets face it, you only finish a project when you sale it & wire is relatively cheap, so plan for any electrical items you will add in the next 5 years. Naturally we cant just print money so stay in the budget, but lets say you are going to add a amplifier, or back up camera, or rear speakers, well then it makes sense to wire for them now, you will save a lot of money later because you will not need to remove the interior.Lets back up here and talk about factory wiring, under normal conditions the wiring in a pre-80s vehicle should last about 40 years & 20-30 years for wiring under the hood. If wiring is hard to bend or the insulation is gone it needs to be replaced. Copper wire will get a green tint known as patina, this looks like corrosion but it may not be a bad wire. So if you are on a tight budget it may not be a bad idea to have your stock wiring harness rebuilt, it can even be modified to give you a “plug & play” harness for the modern accessories you are adding. In the mid 80′ the feds mandated that wiring insulation must be biodegradable & the mice love it. Because of this it is very important to tape all wiring that is easy to get to, under the hood is a must trunk is a good idea as well. Completely taping the wires will also give you a clean look as well as protect the wiring, it will not stop a mouse but it may slow them down & it makes it easier to find an damage. So keep mouse traps near your vehicle storage in the winter, just in case.So here are some things to keep in mind about automotive wiring:Ignition systems - most factory wiring & some aftermarket kits have resistor wire or a ballast resistor for the coil. Older coils need 6 volts, newer modern coils & HEI ignitions need 12 volts. If you have HEI or non-stock performance ignitions they should be powered through a relay to provide voltage from the battery or alternator. A stock coil should have a 14 gauge wire & I high power ignition box or an HEI should have a 12 or 10 gauge wire. As with everything else electrical, if you go too small on the wiring the amps will go up & this will add heat, & the heat will damage the wiring. Be sure you have a good ground to make sure you don’t have any noise.Starting and charging - when ever possible use a gear reduction starter, a GR starter can crank over a 12 to 1 compression engine on a hot day with as little as 300 amps & no hot soak. This will take stress out of the battery & wiring. One wire alternators are junk, if you truly have a trailer queen that is always on a battery charger when not in use, then fine use one, but if you plan on driving it don’t. If you are going to have a high end stereo, ac, power windows, or other power hungry devices then don’t use the 10SI alternator (70’s-80’s GM) use a modern one that can provide more power at an idle. But be carful, newer alternators have many possibilities on how they need to be wired up, be sure to get one that matches your wiring & needs. If the battery is in the rear of the vehicle run the correct cable to a junction point or the starter post, this should be the connecting point for the alternator power wire. Be sure to use the correct cable from the alternator & be sure to fuse it. An ignition switch is not a high current connection, it should see no more than 20 amps, got more than that? Then use relays, if you run your entire vehicles power thorough a key switch you will be replacing it quite often or you will have a carbeque, if you do this be sure to have a fire extinguisher handy at all times. Make sure your battery disconnect is capable of handling your vehicles power needs. Do not run starter power through the switch unless you are building a race car or you have a GR starter. I prefer a latching solenoid for a battery disconnect, its just cleaner & pricing has really come down on them but be carful, I have seen some cheap ones in which the contacts burn easily.Audio, video, security, navigation, on board computer - ah the fun stuff. Always run speaker and video wires (RCA cables) at least 1 foot form any power wire, this includes standard (1157) tail lights. If speaker wires and RCA cables must cross power wires do not let them run parallels, it should look like an “x”. Amplifiers need large cables, be sure to match the cable to the power requirements.  Keep this stuff away from ignition components. Most of the items in this category can easily be added later, but anything that runs front to back should be incorporated into the wiring harness, plus this will give it a clean look. Also your alarm can control many things like your shut off solenoid, remote start, trunk pop, windows, door locks, door pop, monitors, motors, & well just about anything you can think of, but again incorporate this into the wiring.Wiring harness - if you are going to wire this your self & it is your first time, use a Ron Frances or a Centech, they are the easiest to understand & the best built / designed. Avoid anything that promises to reduce your pain or make it eazy, they don’t. I say this because of experience, many times the wiring is wrong or not the correct size for the amp ratting of the circuit. The fact is, it’s not very easy to wire a harness that has 3 tach wires & no ignition wires, but that is what I have had to deal with. Most kits are wired for GM (government motors) so you will need to adapt the wiring to work with Ford or Mopar. Soldering the connections is very time consuming, however it is the very best connection, providing you know how to solder, a cold solder will result in high resistance in the connection & that is very bad. Soldering is perhaps overkill for a general use “driver”, it is a must for racing,  motorcycles, and high vibration vehicles such as off road. Here is a tip if you are going to solder the connections, wire the vehicle & do a “soft crimp” on the connectors, once you have everything cut to length and clean looking solder complete harness sections at a time, this will save time as well as keep it clean. If you are going to retain your stock gauge cluster it is a must that you have an accurate wiring diagram, if you cant find one trace the circuit board (60’s up), or the wires on the back of the gauge cluster, keep in mind that the cluster case is usually ground. Get your hands on a wiring socket removal tool and learn how to use it, avoid the round ones that are red and green they are junk and break easily. Don’t give up on the printed circuit board, in most cases we can save ones that are damaged.And finally know your limits - if you buy a good quality harness you will pay $400-$1000 for a universal GM wired or up to $5000 for a concourse reproduction harness. The average labor charge to install a harness is under $1000 some times as low as $300, However show finish will cost extra, its not uncommon for a concourse wiring job to run $8000 to $10000. So if wiring freaks you out have a pro do it. As always we are here to help, need a free bid or evaluation of your stock wiring or if you have questions feel free to contact me Darren@rushps.com or 801-557-7684 but do it quick, if I get any more of this “change”  I am moving to Australia.

Easy, they are bought from my competitors, O.K. that was too easy and I could not resist. The fact is there is many reasons why a high amp alternator would fail, but just like a non high amp alternator it comes down to one reason. HEAT! A high amp alternator generates heat in how it functions, manage the heat and you will have a alternator that will last much longer. Let step back and go over what makes a high amp alternator produce more power than a normal alternator.Lets have a quick how does it work session. All alternators have a rotor, the part that connects to the pulley and spins inside the stator. The stator holds the wire windings that you can see from the outside. Together the rotor and stator produce the power in ac voltage then the rectifier converts the power to dc voltage. The process is controlled by the regulator.An alternator is basically 3 parts, generation, control, and output. To make a high amp alternator you need heavy duty windings and a lot of steel in the rotor, a tight air gap between the rotor and stator, a lot of iron in the stator core and the correct size wire, and the correct winding pattern or the wire  in the stator. Get it right and you have a high amp alternator. Providing you have a rectifier that can handle the power and a regulator that can control the power, and providing the alternator is matched to the power needs of the vehicle you will should see many years of service.Now this process generates heat because of this we need a fans to cool the alternator down, most high amp alternator have one in the front to cool the stator / rotor and one in the rear to cool the regulator and rectifier as well as help cool the stator. Now one of the reasons why our SPL-comp high amp alternators are so durable is remove the regulator and rectifier from the alternator, so you now have 2 fans cooling the stator and rotor only. This is important because the heat of the stator can damage the regulator and rectifier or at least shorten the their life.Now another great feature of our SPL-Comp high amp alternators is our heat reducing process. A lot of it is top secret but it involves cryogenics and heat treatment followed by a heat dissipating coating. The heat reducing coating works very well on its own and can be ordered for any alternator. The company that handles our heat reducing coating is Stanley Distribution and you can check them out by clicking the link.So here is a typical situation, you start the engine on a hot day, before the alternator has a chance to stabilize the battery, you crank up the system. Now the alternator must charge the battery that has been drained by the starter as well as power the stereo, so it goes to at or near full power. This causes the alternator to run hot, since it is hot outside the under hood temps are very high. Now most stock alternators have an ability to tun off the power until it cools down, it’s a way of limping you home or to the shop, most high amp alternators don’t have this so it will keep the power up, too much of this and the alternator will fail.The thing that most, if not all of our competitors don’t understand or don’t care about is this, an alternator case the final chance to dissipate the heat. If alternator-man tells you he can build you a 200 amp stock case Honda or Toyota alternator he is lying about the amperage the alternator has or you will be replacing it every 6 months or more. It just cant dissipate that much heat, even a large case Denso will just barely handle the heat produced by that much amperage. The fact is even if you spent more money than the national debt for you magical “one-of” super custom alternator tester you will not make a case that is too small dissipate heat.Now here is how an alternator dies, first the long term slow death them the catastrophic quick death. The slow death is normally 6 months to 2 years and the quick death is 3 weeks to 6 months and in some cases the second you start the engine you will know you have a problemIn a slow death repeated heating and cooling will take a toll on the regulator, the bearings, and the diodes in the rectifier. When the regulator finally gives up you will get no output, the bearing will cause noise and extra heat with will cause a catastrophic failure. The diodes will fail one at a time, there are 3 phases in the stator so there are two diodes for each phase, one positive and one negative. If one of the diodes fail you will loose one phase and that is why you have the strobe light effect in your headlights and dash lights. If you see this replace the alternator fast, its on its last leg, now you can see this damage by looking at the stator, if you see that some of the wires are black and look burned and the other look red or copper, then you have burned out one phase of the stator.A typical catastrophic failure will go something like this. The alternator will superheat which is anything above 275 degrees. The stator will expand and the air gap between the rotor and stator will increase, this will cause the field to collapse. As this happens you will see the voltage drop down to nothing. Do this once and you have forever changed the air gap and it will never be the same. Now there are wood and plastic inserts that protect the stator winding they will warp or melt. Once the stator contacts the iron core in the center it is all over.So save your self some money and time, call Rush Power Systems first!

First up is Stanley DistributionNot only are they the only company we will use for our high temp coating they also have some cool colors available. Check them out.Next as many of you know we offer discounts for members of car clubs, in that tradition we have teamed up with the Indy GTO Association, if you are into GTO’s take a look.

www.rushps.com    www.high-amp.com

Technology is funny, I am mobile & my cell phone is my business line. Last month it went south on me on a Friday morning, rather than opting for the loaner I decided to take the weekend off. What a nice quite relaxing weekend, then came Monday afternoon, I was slammed with calls asking me why I had not called back, between the shop and myself all my messages were deleted. It made me think that sometimes old school is better, don’t get me wrong, I love technology but if we ever have a EMP  attack the only thing that will be on the road is old cars with point distributors, although you will not get far because you will not be able to  get gas out of the ground. So what is an EMP? It’s short for electromagnetic pulse, when a nuclear  bomb is detonated about 2000 feet off the ground it destroys all electrical circuits that are connected to power. In  remake of “War of the Worlds” it was the reason Tom Cruise’s character could drive away, the van did not have a battery in it. Sounds science fiction, but it is real, however if you have points without a solid state controller you are fine. But then again the world loves us now.

But enough doom and gloom lets talk gauges. For some time I have been working on a way to convert amp gauges to volt meter and retain the look of the factory amp meter.  We take the stock gauge, keep the stock face and install a volt meter behind it, the center point of the gauge reflects alternators voltage set point,  to get it right I need to install a stable regulator in the alternator. So what is the big deal? Why would you want a volt meter? A volt meter will tell you before you have a problem, lets say we have a converted gauge and the center line between the “C” (charge) and “D” (discharge) is 14 volts. Now that is the set point the regulator will try to keep the voltage at. If you notice that you are above the line then you are running at higher charge rate than the regulator set point. This can be a problem with the alternator or the electrical system, but it can run that way for weeks or months so you have time to fix it and you are not dealing with it in some small town on the way back from a show. The same is true if you notice it is running below the set point line. The problem with an amp meter is it will tell you when you have a problem not before you have a problem.

Now here is a question I get all the time, what is the best way to connect two wires. A house does not see much vibration so wire nuts are ok there, but they don’t belong in anything else. Under vibration they will come loose and you will have live wires hit ground & blow fuses or burn wires, I did not say “can” I said “will” so don’t risk it. The worlds best connection is to solder, but if you don’t know how to do it then use crimp connections. I will always solder wires on bikes, boats, sandrails, dune buggies, & full race vehicles. All other connections I use crimp connections, the best connectors to use are “bell caps” they are white and look like a bell, think of a wire nut that you crimp. The reason I like them is the two wires actually touch each other and you can fill the base with silicone to keep moisture out, it’s a inexpensive version of a weather pack connection. I recommend avoiding scotch-locks however if installed correctly T-taps work every well. Always use the correct size connector. One of the best connections available are posi-locks but they are quite expensive. If you are not sure what any of this is you may want to talk to an expert before wiring your project.

well its 2 days before my dead line, and I have no idea what I am going to right about this time, nothing new here. The iTunes program on my computer keeps finding songs that force me to fire up the Ampeg tube amp, strap on the trusty Fender and jam along, and then  it hits me……Magnets! Without them I would not be using a computer, I would not need to use a computer though because there would not be a automobile. But before I get into that let me share some news, we have a new online catalog, the old page will stay there as will our blog, but if you would like to order any products just go to our catalog at www.high-amp.com and I am pleased that Rush Power Systems remains 100% capitalists, we have not nor will we agree to take any abomination bail out money!check out our new street rod alternator line. This alternator is designed to be a direct bolt in replacement for the 20 year old design you are most likely using now, it comes in a one wire design, it will give you much better power at an idle than the 10/12 si unit, and it will most likely outlast your vehicle. Amp ratting up to 200 amps. Now where would we be without magnets? When I have free time, which was I think was about 5 years ago, I enjoyed “hot rodding” electric guitars. The pickup coils are very similar to the way a HEI distributor works, and it is also what makes the HEI distributor one of the best for modification as well as everyday use. Now other factory distributors are similar to the HEI but there are subtle differences that can be problematic, but hey if the HEI will not fit your engine go with the stock unit, in my opinion they are just as good if not better than aftermarket units, in fact I believe when properly set up they will out perform aftermarket units. My only problem with the HEI is GM should have used bearings instead of bushings but that is easily fixed. So the parts involved here are, a pick up coil, magnet and metal, can anything be more simple?  As we know (if you have been paying attention) a magnet inside a coil of wire will make electricity flow, so think of the little spiky thing inside the HEI distributor as the rotor in an alternator, or for that mater just like the massive rotors inside the ac power generators found at water driven power plants. In a distributor when the tip of the spike or point is closest to the receiver it causes a pulse in the pick up coil, that pulse tells the ignition module when to fire the coil. The thousands of pluses make up a AC sine wave and that is what the tach reads to tell you what RPM the engine is at. Now the cool thing is this don’t want a big Ford ignition module under the hood? Cant fit it under the dash? Just use a HEI 4 pin module. You can mount it under the distributor or under the dash. The pins are power ground, coil trigger, pick up in and pick up out and it will work with any factory distributor of the same cylinders as the ignition module you are using. Just keep in mind the metal plate is ground as well as heat dissipation, it must be mounted on a aluminum surface using heat transfer gel. As you may have guessed the next stop on our vehicle tour of magnets is the alternator, the rotor is an electro-magnet, when the regulator applies voltage to the rotor coil inside the north and south pole pieces ac power flows in the stator, the rectifier converts it to DC and your headlights stay bright. But that is not all, there are magnets and electro-magnets found in relays, solenoids, and more. As always, if you have questions feel free to ask.

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www.rushps.com                            www.rushpowersystems.net

Let’s talk about electronic gadgets this time, first up let’s go security and convenience. I am sure most people have heard of GM’s “On Star” but did you know you can get most of the features in any car. Today’s navigation systems are very advanced and feature “call for help” options. Now it does not have crash detection or on the fly vehicle diagnosis but give them time. Navigation systems are basically just a Global Positioning System (GPS) that pinpoints your location and the location you want to go, they can give you real time traffic and route around it. But the nice thing is this; you can add a GPS system to an alarm system. With this set up you could, in real time, locate your vehicle if it is stolen. Think about that, your vehicle is stolen; you go to your computer, look up its location, call the police and tell them the location of the vehicle. And if you have kids how about this, “seems she forgot about the library like she told her old man now, but he looked it up on the computer, called her on her cell phone and told her to go to the library now”. O.K. that is off memory so if the non embellished parts are wrong don’t shot me, if Bryan Wilson did it in 80’s hair metal I would have a better memory of the lyrics. But I digress, before you run out and buy that GPS system, check with your cell phone company, many newer cell phones have real time turn by turn navigation built in to the phone. If you are only interested in navigation that may be a better way to go.

Next up video, the possibilities here are almost endless, you can get them in the headrest, visor, rear view mirror, and even motorized monitor that is hidden in the stereo head unit when the system is off. Video incorporates navigation, back up camera, satellite TV, video games, and DVD movies. Your photo display of your project could be put on a DVD and show on a monitor as a slide show. When backing up you can look at a monitor built into your rear view mirror, the camera can be at ground level so you don’t scratch the paint on a curb, hey you could even put a camera up front for the same reason. Modern cameras are very small and easy to hide so you have many options there.  As for movies and games you will need an input device for them, this can be a car audio head unit that can play DVD or a 12 volt DVD player, another easy way to do it is a power inverter that will convert DC to AC for use with a game console or DVD player. This could also be done with the alternator if you were to contact someone like…..oh….I don’t know…..Rush Power Systems, they could tell you what is involved in that.   Just remember this is where it can get expensive, set a budget before you look at the options. If you go in with Champaign taste on a beer budget you will not be happy in the end.

Now we come to audio, the big news here is CD is dead. A few years ago a 12 disk CD changer would run you $300.00+, today they give them away with a new bank account. But seriously that is not quite true, the CD will never truly go away, but digital audio holds the market share and will continue to do so. There are several different digital audio formats but for sake of discussion we will refer to them as MP3. The fact is this digital mp3 audio will never have the same sound quality as a CD, however a CD will hold at best 20 songs. I have about 15,000 songs on my 80 gig iPod and I have room for many more, so it is easy to see why digital audio is so popular. Many newer head units can directly interface with a portable hard drive or an mp3 player, many mp3 players will handle video. So if you have audio and video capabilities in your vehicle you can have you entire volume of entertainment in something that will fit into your pocket. In my opinion the future of radio is dead, sorry but here are the facts. HD radio is better but it does not seem to gain major traction, talk radio is driving the industry and the local radio stations hosting the programs seem hell bent on offending the listeners of the programs they are hosting. This along with the thereat of the “fairness doctrine” and I predict overwhelming sales in satellite radio, if you are thinking of buying one I say now would be a great time. Of course your mileage may vary, I am just reporting on what I see. Providing HD radio does not take over the way HD TV is then I suppose there will be a place for over the air radio, just not sure what form it will need to evolve into to survive. But then again as long as we are printing money like it was news paper (and it will have the same value soon) perhaps big radio needs a bail out!

On a side note, December was very hard as my mother in law was battling cancer and she lost the battle in the days before the New Year. My wife and I would like to thank everyone who called and sent notes, they were greatly appreciated.