Anyone fitted one of these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/STI-S...73015967QQrdZ1

 

What a waste of money!!

 

Can't do any harm (at that price) as Imprezas are known to have bad earths

 

You reckon its just a gimmic? a mate has a 350z and thinks it makes a difference

 

I know someone who fitted to a Legacy B4, said it made the car run smoother.

Looks pretty too

 

Seriously I can't see how it can work. Barring removing the earth strap, and two bulkhead earth points polishing them with wire wool and putting back on with a dollops of fresh battery grease.

It just against everything I learnt on current flow in low level electronics.

 

As with any gimmick, nobody wants to admit they wasted their money on ****e.

 

You have a point



I still maintain that "turbonator" works a treat

 

Thats the same as the one ive got (although in blue) .... looks brilliant .... but "I wasted my money on sh*te"!!

It makes the car run better cause you want it to .... if you didnt know it was there, you wouldnt have a clue!

 

Though I can't vouch for any of the claims for this kit, I can tell you my experience of fitting a similar earthing kit.

Prior to fitment, I was finding that the digital AFR display (4 LEDs in the A-Pillar) on my classic would be affected by putting the headlamps on - I found a slight descrepancy between the earth levels at the battery and the ECU pin (On the bulkhead under the passengers feet), which was effected by load on the battery earth terminals (to the body).

I tried cleaning these up - and maybe more cleaning may have helped, but the situation was rectified immediately by fitting a multi-point earthing kit.

I can't say for certain whether the car was noticibly better, but 'electrically' it was more 'accurate', so I would expect that the ECU control was more consistent.....

Mark

 

my earths are **** put the indercaters on and i can hear my fuel pump flashing with them ive cleaned the earths and still the same so will this work or not ??

 

When you say battery grease are you referring to vaseline? As a auto-electrician I always smear a earth connection with copper based grease. Mor so on my scooby as I have noticed that when protecting the battery clamps with vaseline after a good hard run there is not any left as the temp as got sufficient for it to do a runner.

 

It's proper battery grease. Says it on the tin, surely as a sparky you must have seen some? It's only to protect from corrosion, not be conductive (thus why its dielectric). Doesn't melt in my experience, supposed to be acid proof too.

I keep Vaseline for other purposes


....like priming Rover V8 oil pumps (until I made a priming tool) - thought I'd better divulge, don't want people getting the wrong idea

 

I have one of these fitted although I made my own. I was having trouble with the headlights dimming with the indicators. This was made even worse when I added a couple of Amps and subs....my very own disco lights

I had a brand new high capacity battery and the original earth strap was replaced and the mounting points cleaned but to no effect. Once the extra earthing points were added, my headlights were perfect again maintaining their brightness and not flashing in time with the bass! Not sure if it effected the running of the car but it was worth the effort to have brighter lights when driving along unlit country roads.

 

The problem is the ECU in essence is a computer, it will opperate a nominal voltage (much less than 14+ volts your alternator can muster) and be well protected by voltage regulation circuits.

 

Indeed, in addition to the ECU's built in 12volt power regulator (battery voltage 14.5volts - engine running), many sensors also work off a regulated 5volt power supply.

Many "decent" ECUs will be stable down to as low as 10volts - if they weren't you'd never be able to start a car on a cold winter's day.

 

It's easier to just build your own... i did that with mine... it seems to run better.. but it all could be in my head...