Thread: Stage 1 Volt Booster - Modified

Well, I purchased a volt booster from zzp a while back and I was getting about 15.3 at cold start up and 14.5ish during cruise. This weekend I decided to pull out the 1amp diode and replace it with a 1.5 amp diode. I did not want the 2 amps that the stage 2 has becuase of the cold start issues. I pulled it apart, but I could not get the diode apart from the pin of the connector and ended up breaking the pin in the process. Well, I went to RS Strauss to the electrical section and found a replacement. When I got home, I soldiered it up and put everything back together. Almost as good as zzp, but the weather protection is a bit noticible with mine. I am sure with a little practice it will be just as good, but I will never need to do it again.

This morning was the test. At cold start up the volts kept changing between 15.3 and 15.4 volts. Onced warmed up and cruising to work the volts kept changing between 14.8 and 14.9. I wanted about 14.7 to 14.8 volts. Looked like I got what I wanted So if anyone is tired of the stage 2 blinking at cold start up and is willing to sacrifice a few volts, a combo of Radio Shack and your local auto parts place is where you need to go.

moved to tech tips.

That is an awesome one by the way!!

That voltage is awful high. Great tip for anyone that wants to do it, but I personally feel it is better just to do the big three and not start over-volting the system.

Well Id have to dig up the information again, but as I recall the system can handle up to like 16-16.5v before the protection systems kick in to automatically shut things down like the PCM. Now on aftermarket stereo systems, particularly amplifiers, I believe the cut off starts in at like 15v so that could be an issue for those situation.

The alternator itself is capable of 17-18v if I remember correctly, so its not really over-volting the system, just using more of its capacity.

Where this really comes in handy, is in things like the ignition system. Going from 13.6-13.8v to nearly 15 when warmed up adds just that much more energy to the plugs for a better burn in the chamber.

Before this community existed, I had a big long thread on ClubGP about how I picked up fuel economy doing this modification. Im very meticulous about documenting my fuel mileage and useage. So I had the four tanks of fuel before I added the voltage booster and the four tanks after I added the booster and it was over 2 mpg gain on the economy.

I had the big three done before I put on the voltage booster as well. It was one of the first modifications I had done to the car actually and I believe it was the following year that the voltage booster came out. I was running 1/0 awg on my big three, 4awg on the alternator rewire.

So I feel there are some gains to had, at least in my application there was. Now that I know how and where to get the connectors and stuff from, I plan on seeing if I can duplicate that effect on some other vehicles.

I have the big 3 done on my car, I was looking to increase the voltage just a little bit for a better spark and possibly increase the speed of my pumps. Hopefully this helps my idle voltage when I reduce the idle again for the fun sound of my cam. I do wonder if this works well for the after market stereos that have an issue with the stage 2 voltage booster.

Originally Posted by Damojo2003

I have the big 3 done on my car, I was looking to increase the voltage just a little bit for a better spark...

You will get no better spark. The voltage regulator for the coils only outputs a set amount of voltage. It will store the correct amount, and only emit a certain amount. It will turn away any increase, because, after all, it is regulated.

So you pretty much wasted your time with that one.

I bought the stage 1 a while back. Is this diode safe to do with a Vplus voltage booster and the alternator power cable. Or does this generate to much voltage.

Originally Posted by StreetShaker

You will get no better spark. The voltage regulator for the coils only outputs a set amount of voltage. It will store the correct amount, and only emit a certain amount. It will turn away any increase, because, after all, it is regulated.

So you pretty much wasted your time with that one.

O well, it kept me busy. The real test for me is when it is 100* outside and I am in stop and go traffic with the AC cranking. So far this mod with the big 3 helped my idle voltage alot. Which is the reason for my looking into this.

Originally Posted by FuglyGTP

I'm trying to figure out what the booster is made of exactly. If the plug on the back of the alternator is used for voltage reference and you use a diode to drop it down .7v (assuming a silcone diode is used) then the voltage regulator should boost the output voltage to make up for the loss that it sees.

I'm not sure where 1, 1.5 and 2 amp diodes come into play here. Amperage is simply the amount of juice that the diode can handle. It has no effect on the voltage.

What would make sense to me is if the stage one had one diode, and the stage two had two diodes in series (unless they used a zener diode).

You're forgetting that .7V drop is when it's passing a minimum amount of current. We're dealing with very low currents in this case, and at that level, there can be a difference between diodes set up for different current handling.

Very simple, take a 2.0 amp silicone diode and pass a couple of uA through it, and you will see a Vf other than .7.

Now, I'm just using this to show why people are seeing a possible difference, I believe ZZP does use multiple diodes in series in their "stage 2" booster.