In theory this would work....

The Green GT

No 13 year olds are safe around me.
10 Year Member
Jan 8, 2006
1,269
19
99
Louisiana
So today I left my lights on at school, battery died, blah blah. I just jumped in front of a car and held them at gunpoint while they jump started my car.

But I was thinking. What if i were to take my belt off, attach a cordless drill to my alternator pulley bolt, and turn it for a few minutes with the key on. Would this actually work? I cant see why it wont, but there are alot of things I cant see. Not that I plan on doing it but Im just curious.
 
why didnt you just pop your car in nuetral, get a running start with it, then drop the clutch in 1st. should start right up, right??

pop starting on a dead batt. is not going to work as the inj. and fuel pump needs elec. tor run. along with the eec. If there is enought to work those (hear the pump prime) than maybe but not always.
 
So today I left my lights on at school, battery died, blah blah. I just jumped in front of a car and held them at gunpoint while they jump started my car.

But I was thinking. What if i were to take my belt off, attach a cordless drill to my alternator pulley bolt, and turn it for a few minutes with the key on. Would this actually work? I cant see why it wont, but there are alot of things I cant see. Not that I plan on doing it but Im just curious.

I think it would, but I'm not sure how fast you'd be able to get that pulley spinning with a cordless drill... hmmm.
 
I know there are easier ways to start it. I dont plan on trying it, I was just curious to see what you guys though about it.

And the gunpoint thing isnt serious. lol
 
If I read JT's response correctly (from the other topic of the same name...heh) then the drill wouldn't be able to spin the belt fast enough in order to reach the speed the alternator needs to create a charge...
 
Clutch starting will work no matter how dead the battery is.

But a battery that is completely dead takes at least 24 hours to fully charge, which means it needs a lot of time just to get back above 10 volts. The alternator spins at probably 10k rpm's :shrug:, and I doubt your drill spins that fast.

Now if you could hook it up to a router, that would be a different story. That would definitely work!!
Scott
 
The problem with using all these little 1hp and less electric motors is that when the alternator IS making electricity, it requires more power to turn the alt shaft. It doesn't freewheel. Say you have a motor that makes 1 peak hp, you will be at a deficit if the alt requires 10hp to turn it to charge the battery. Also, to get a 3000 rpm motor to turn another shaft at 10k-15k rpms, you would need to put a pulley on it that is 5 times the diameter of the alt pulley. That would also turn the power lugging ability of the motor to where it would not be able to turn the alt pulley at all.

In short, you would need:
1) A motor capable of producing somewhere about 10 hp at about 10000 rpms. :eek:
2) A motor capable of producing MUCH more than 10 hp at 3000 rpm AND some sort of tranmission to step the rpms up to 10k-15k rpms. :eek:
3) Gigantic monkey arms to hold said motor and keep enough tension on the leather belt to keep it from slipping, so that all of the power will make it to the alternator. :eek: :eek: :eek:

No. It wouldn't work. Sorry. :D
 
Clutch starting will work no matter how dead the battery is.

But a battery that is completely dead takes at least 24 hours to fully charge, which means it needs a lot of time just to get back above 10 volts. The alternator spins at probably 10k rpm's :shrug:, and I doubt your drill spins that fast.

Now if you could hook it up to a router, that would be a different story. That would definitely work!!
Scott

Didnt work at all for me eec wouldnt turn on, nothing...went down a few levels of the garage before I just called a buddy...good thing it was a bach party and several people were there :rlaugh: .

Side note...anyone been in a car that revs/makes power high enough that the Alt. TURNS OFF...kinda scary:D
 
I didnt think an alternator used that much HP to turn, even at max output (I once crunched the numbers to make a point on an E-fan vs mechanical fan, 2G vs 3G thread).
 
You arent putting the drill on the pulley, you are putting it on the bolt holding the pulley on. The alt will turn for every time the drill turns unless there is a gear reduction system in the alt.