Thomas Knight Electric Supercharger

[psychlow]

Alright, guys. I know this is the dead horse. But check it out, there's a new bad boy with an electric supercharger. And, it isn't a leaf blower or a fume blower. We're talking nearly 100WHP.

For those of you that subscribe to Turbo and High Performance magazine (www.turbomagazine.com), check out an article titled "Boost for the Hard Case Cars" (June 2004, p.80) regarding the Thomas Knight Turbo Electric Supercharger.

It works by charging extra batteries off the alternator (either 4 car batteries, or, if you have an upgraded alternator, you can opt for lightweight batteries). When you flip the switch, you get a 15-second nitrous-like boost. When the batteries are drained, the motor stops, but guess what? To refill, you simply drive for a few minutes. Meaning NO REFILLING NITROUS.

Oh and guess what? No parasitic drags on engine power whatsoever.

Dyno results on an automatic Nissan Altima:

Baseline: 115.9WHP
Charged 1: 177.1WHP @ 5PSI
Charged 2: 208.8WHP @ 8PSI

And, electric supercharging is in its baby stages: when cars go to 42V power systems, it's possible to have a 1:1 discharge/recharge ratio with some work.

Thomas Knight's website:
http://www.boosthead.com/home.php

(PS - there's also a $1000 belt-driven supercharger kit for the 420A on that site....)

Discuss.

 

[Tallen]

Already been discussed about a month or 2 ago...actually looks decent!

 

[Sephroth57]

that sounds decent except the motor stopping part. so it actually like shuts off the car or it just stops giving you the extra power.

 

[teme]

that looks if it could do some good

 

[nutshot]

On a similar note, how hard would it be to adapt the electric clutch from an A/C condensor to a supercharger? You could, in theory, reduce parasitic loss and have on demand Forced Induction. No superflous weight from additional batteries, no 15 second limit... Just a thought.

 

[MyEclipse5]

expensive, but cool


I would rather have nitrous...you can't purge that thing

also, odds are that if people start buying and using that thing itll be illigal too

 

[Wheels-a-turnin]

I say its bullshit like the grounding-kits!!:thumbdown

 

[98RedGs]

I'm impressed.

 

[Slappster]

I'll let other people try it and see the real world race results before I'd ever comprehend getting one.

 

[splattj]

Originally posted by psychlow
but guess what? To refill, you simply drive for a few minutes.

From boosthead.com
"If an upgraded alternator is added--like a 200+ amp unit--then recharging can take place in 10-20 minutes."
They mention refilling nitrous but how long will a car battery last being discharged and recharged a couple times a day? 3 new batteries each time. Yikes! That could get costly too. If you don't have an 200+ amp alternator how long will it take to recharge? You have to either buy a battery charger for your garage or drive the car for 45 minutes after using the charger... now that's not very convenient.

 

[blMuskrat]

Originally posted by Sephroth57
that sounds decent except the motor stopping part. so it actually like shuts off the car or it just stops giving you the extra power.

I think he ment the blower stops, not the actual motor..draining the batteries shouldn't stop the car (ever have a bad alternator?)

 

[Hooptytalon]

Seems like it'd work pretty well on a Toyota Prius or Honda Insight w/ the regenerative braking and all that other electrical gobbldyguk.

 

[chriw21_2000]

I bought a FMIC from that Thomas Knight dude. I will NEVER do business with him again! He told me that the i/c was hand made tanks with a spearco core. I get it and its a i/c off a 18 wheeler cut in half and the tanks capped off with two peices of pipe welded on. The pic he sent was nice looking. What I got was a POS. So watch your back when you order from this guy!

Laterz

 

[psychlow]

Originally posted by Tallen
Already been discussed about a month or 2 ago...actually looks decent!

I tried searching... do you have a link?

And the Electric Supercharger runs off its own batteries - it doesn't discharge the battery your car runs off of.

Typical installation weight including the blower and the batteries is just under 100lbs.

 

[Fahrenheit]

Originally posted by chriw21_2000
I bought a FMIC from that Thomas Knight dude. I will NEVER do business with him again! He told me that the i/c was hand made tanks with a spearco core. I get it and its a i/c off a 18 wheeler cut in half and the tanks capped off with two peices of pipe welded on. The pic he sent was nice looking. What I got was a POS. So watch your back when you order from this guy!

Laterz

Why would you buy a FMIC ur a N/T? Anyways the dyno results are impressive for the aveneger, but it still ran like a 15.3 in the 1/4 so it cant be that great for a few grand

 

[greyforestgst]

so instead of a portion of the rotational momentum of the engine to turn a turbine at all times, you simply use a portion of the rotational momentum of the engine to generate electricity, store it in craploads of heavy ass batteries, then use that charge built up to turn a turbine for 15 whole seconds, and all that for way more than the cost of a supercharger!

woop de ####in doo

 

[Ballin' GS]

Originally posted by Fahrenheit
Why would you buy a FMIC ur a N/T? Anyways the dyno results are impressive for the aveneger, but it still ran like a 15.3 in the 1/4 so it cant be that great for a few grand

Probably because he has a turbo kit for it dude

 

[Skunked tsi]

Thomas Knight Turbos used to be the only guy on the market that made a turbo kit for a Mazda Mx6/probe/mx3 with the kl03 and whatever the mx3 v6 motor is. People bought them and no one was happy he makes a custom manifold the only mates to one side of the motor causing incorrect back pressure and a horrible running car. The welds are also and these kits arent cheap.
Just my two cents i wouldnt trust that company for the life of me.

 

[chriw21_2000]

Yea I have a turbo kit for my car that I took off. I got my manifold from him too. Again nothing like the pic. Supose to be all stainless, flange was carbon. The pipes in the pic were big, in the kit, they are tiny. Like 1" I.D. pipe. I wouldnt trust this guy!

Laterz

 

[psychlow]

Originally posted by greyforestgst
woop de ####in doo

I agree, it isn't the most efficient way of doing things. But you're also not putting any more drag on the engine, and it'd probably only ever be on a car that would be hard/impossible to supercharge or turbocharge without massive custom work.

 

[98TsiAWD]

Search abotu that guy on asog.net or asec

 

[Defiant]

Character assassination aside, just that the thing has THREE STARTER MOTORS on it, and needs its own batteries to drive the thing should finally show how worthless the boat bilge blowers are for the job.

 

[ShadowWulf]

This is gonna sound stupid i know....

Ive read up already on how useless supercharges are for Eclipses and all. But, hell im actually bored and im willing to just spend $150 on an electric supercharger of ebay.

Why? Im really just curious, everyone says they suck, but i dont know anybody who actually has USED one, and im just really curious. Im taking this as an experement, and im not expecting any huge gain from it either. And if your wondering why im using the electric supercharger, its because i havent found a classic belt driven one that would even come close to fitting under the hood yet.

I will however post an official write up on it when im done, w/pictures and results and (hopefully) a dyno sheet so in the future anybody who gets curious will know, for good OR bad, weather this mod is really useless as everyone says (i believe it may be so, but for the price......hell why not?)

Lemme know what you think, and if anybody would even be interested in the reults. But please dont flame me, i KNOW its kind of a dumb idea, and it just may suck hugely but SO WHAT, its an experement of cheap bolt on HP (or lack thereof) for the poor ole 420A for those of us that cant find $3K for a turbo just yet

(linkey to the auction if your curious/dubious/whatever)
Supercharger

 

[jott5555]

i saw go for it i have seen 3 of them used on a porsche 928.. it picked up a lil better. you should also blow a lil more money on a tornado thing you put in your intake track to better spool your air.. and mabey even the exhause thing that is sopposed to get rid of your exh..

you could wright a cheap unless product review... someone may use it and you may find a cheap useful product.

 

[carwizard1]

If your gonna buy one why not just go to a boat supply store and get the same thing for like $10???? Then you could buy 15 of them then you can do you tech article.