F150 Electric Supercharger

[jolleyi]

Does anyone have any experience with these?
www.performancechiptuning.com offers a GTE 5PSI supercharger for $199.99
I have a 2001 4.6l V8 XLT supercrew and need more power for towing.
I live up at 6300ft.
Thanks
Ian

[Davescort97]

I think the one you have in mind will actually give you a HP increase. The smaller 100 watt and 200 watt electrical superchargers won't give you any boost at all. A 900 watt supercharger will be pulliing 75 amps at 12 volts. It will get the job done. The only drawback is that you can't turn it on and leave it. You can only use it on demand for no longer than a minute or so, because the motor is of such high draw that it will overheat if it is left on, too long. These superchargers like you have put out so much air that if you turn it on while it is sitting on the work bench it will take off and do a couple of laps around the shop. This supercharger you have a link to is only 1 of 2 brands that actually work. The majority of electrical superchargers are so small and of low power usage that they are all but useless.

It's gonna take a few more horsepower to turn the alternator while it is putting out 75 amps. Whether or not this eats up any gain from the supercharger is yet to be known, to me, anyway. If you actually get 5 lbs. boost I'd think that the engine would gain a lot more horses than it would take to spin the alternator.

[RahX]

To add what Davescort97 said. Most crap ones are old bilge fans that aren't really superchargers at all... On a 12V system they are rather useless and a pain in the ass. You need like 3-4 batteries to run it for any (short) length of time before you have to turn it off. Not to mention you would need a 200A alternator to even think about recharging those batteries. You can get up to 5ish psi MAYBE. If you had a 42V electrical system, the power drain would be significantly less and it would be very feasible. At any rate, look elsewhere for a more reliable power solution. Tried and true mechanical superchargers work nicely still

[Davescort97]

You are probably right. One thing I didn't take into consideration is the throttle plates on the throttle body. This device wouldn't work unless you had a WOT, Maybe some kiind of electrical switch could be added so that the electric supercharger would come on only during wide open throttle.

[Blue)(Fusion]

While it would be more expensive to get a mechanical supercharger, I think it would be much more beneficial. It would provide boost at all power settings. And there is less mechanical loss using a belt-driven supercharger. There is more mechanical loss by converting mechanical power to electrical power and back to mechanical power.

And the mechanical supercharger would be more reliable than the electrical one. You can try pulling a junkyard part. I don't know if the Lightning ones will fit on your engine. But there's tons of super chargers available for the 4.6 and 5.4L modulars.