Voltage Stabilizer & Grounding

[Mr Morse]

Fitted an Apiro voltage stabilizer (silver colour box on left side of battery) and grounding cables at the weekend. I cut off the connectors and secured the cables directly into some new goldplated Battery terminals.

Today was the first opportunity to take her for a burn....

I know there is some debate as to performance gains from these mods, but I'll swear that the throttle response was quicker, especially above 3,500 revs. :P

There is definately an improvement in audio quality, even with the standard headunit - a crisper sound with more definition and clearer bass. :zee:

[Zee007]

May I ask what make of stablizer you opted for?

[MrADeveci]

Did you end up buying the stabiliser kit Mike ? .........

[Mr Morse]

Both items came from

GBdriver

Vstab £75

Grounding cable kit £26

Free delivery in UK

@SF They sell all the grounding kit stuff (8 gage cable, gold plated connectors) at Maplin, but the crimping tool costs a whack so it was cheaper to buy the ready made kit

[dano]

hello guy's,

I hope I dont step on any toes,

these really do work but dont go buying those kits as I will do you a good deal on some great kits much cheaper than those. The ground kit is a good price but the voltage kit is expensive. Please let me know if I can help.

Mr Morse I see that you have connect two wires to the slam panel they will work better if wired to the following:

the alernator

the head

intake plenum.

These are a must to make the whole system work to its full potential.

hope that helps

regards

Daniel

[Jiberjaber]

Hmmmm I am fairly sceptical about this.

Does the unit come with instructions showing what is actualy in it?

Large capacitor and maybe some basic regulator circuit (large zenner prehaps?)

I was only able to google one instance of these being mentioned with any sort of context applied:

http://motoring.asia1.com.sg/cgi-bin/motor...ic;f=7;t=001990

Using the American spelling I get quite a few more hits:

Home made ones http://khguan.fotopic.net/c436430.html

Build your own here:

http://www.zerotohundred.com/newforums/sho...ight=Stabilizer

[Anees]

Sorry for the newbie question

Would this be a good thing to get if you were experiencing electrical noise?

Just thinking it maybe something to consider for the Car PC! :D

[Jiberjaber]

Are you thinking of electrical noise when you connect the audio from the incar PC to the amp etc or something else? If the former, an isolating transformer should solve your problem I would have though. Maplin used to do one which I have kicking around back in the Boro. Cant seem to find it on their web site but I am sure there is one out there somewhere on teh web :)

So anyone going to build a DIY vstab then (I reckon one could easily be knocked up for less than 20 quid).

I have have the components (if not all) sat back in the Boro if I can be bothered but I am not back there untill end of June atm....

Mike - you done any exhaustive testing of this then ?

[Anees]

Are you thinking of electrical noise when you connect the audio from the incar PC to the amp etc or something else?  If the former, an isolating transformer should solve your problem I would have though.  Maplin used to do one which I have kicking around back in the Boro.  Cant seem to find it on their web site but I am sure there is one out there somewhere on teh web :)

So anyone going to build a DIY vstab then (I reckon one could easily be knocked up for less than 20 quid).

I have have the components (if not all) sat back in the Boro if I can be bothered but I am not back there untill end of June atm....

Mike - you done any exhaustive testing of this then ?

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Well....noise as in the screen picture was abit fuzzy when the alternator was running.

I have solved this now - just grounded better. I was thinking more as a preventative thing (and it looks quite nice in the engine bay!) :D

[legendswraith]

Fitted an Apiro voltage stabilizer (silver colour box on left side of battery) and grounding cables at the weekend. I cut off the connectors and secured the cables directly into some new goldplated battery terminals.

Today was the first opportunity to take her for a burn....

I know there is some debate as to performance gains from these mods, but I'll swear that the throttle response was quicker, especially above 3,500 revs.  :P

There is definately an improvement in audio quality, even with the standard headunit - a crisper sound with more definition and clearer bass.  :zee:

←

I didn't get the stabiliser but i did do the ground leads i looked out the actual grounding points the car uses onto the different points and ran onto those though i have noticed a more stabilised and lower idle but not much more my wires don't look as nicely routed as those though may have to have a reshuffle

[Mr Morse]

Mike - you done any exhaustive testing of this then ?

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No testing other than a "subjective" burn down the M42 yesterday. As Daniel suggests I think I'll pick up some additional cables from Maplin and connect up the head, induction and alternator and take it from there. Maybe it's time to get her on the dyno - was planning on waiting until I got the unrestiricted manifold & cat sorted out but this may take a few more months.

[Mr Morse]

Right then, three more grounding cables (in contrasting red!) attached to the head, alternator and the Typhoon. Followed by ECU reset.

Idling revs are immediately smoother! Not that is was rough before, just now it is sooooo smooth

Haven't had chance to whack her open yet and see what it's like at the top end, but I anticipate improvements

Good tip Daniel!

[jasestu]

Right then, three more grounding cables (in contrasting red!) attached to the head, alternator and the Typhoon. Followed by ECU reset.

Idling revs are immediately smoother!    Not that is was rough before, just now it is sooooo smooth

Haven't had chance to whack her open yet and see what it's like at the top end, but I anticipate improvements

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Wow, that much of an improvement? Really? I've been hearing that grounding kits are largely gimmicks, especially for newer cars. Older cars may be able to benefit, but only because the factory grounding points may be corroded.

Good that you've seen such dramatic results! Don't suppose there's a way you can confirm that your idle wouldn't have smoothed out solely as a result of the ECU reset? You wanna do a trial for us and remove the kit again to see if performance degrades? ;)

[Mr Morse]

It's purely my subjective opinion and at the moment I can't back it up with qualitative data - this will come when I have her dyno'd. But before I'd grounded the last three points there was more of a "rumble", now she just purrs.

I'll give her a good spanking on the way to JF on Saturday and give feedback as what it does to the top end

No - It'll be a pain in the arse to disconnect it all right now, may do this for the dyno though.

BTW my neighbour told me today he'd done the same with an Audi S3 and gotten the same positive results

[dano]

It is surprising the results you can get with these kits. The idea of the grounding os to ensure the alternator, injectors and spark plugs are working to there full potential.

Here are mine:

[Mr Singh]

It is surprising the results you can get with these kits. The idea of the grounding os to ensure the alternator, injectors and spark plugs are working to there full potential.

Here are mine:

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Who makes that one?

I with Jasestu on this, however if i did a blind test and felt the difference i sure would be a believer.... till then physco acoustics?

[dano]

I import them,same technology just unbranded so loads cheaper. People are skeptical about these but then it new so thats understandable.

I dont know of anybody who has fitted these kits not notice a difference.

My idle used to fluctuate especially when cold but now sits rock steady, buddy club tested theirs on a new impreza and got 8bhp, my kits were tested on a civic type r by the manufacturer and showed 5bhp.

[Mr Singh]

Send me one and i will give you an honest review :)

Deal?

[jasestu]

I import them,same technology just unbranded so loads cheaper. People are skeptical about these but then it new so thats understandable.

I dont know of anybody who has fitted these kits not notice a difference.

My idle used to fluctuate especially when cold but now sits rock steady, buddy club tested theirs on a new impreza and got 8bhp, my kits were tested on a civic type r by the manufacturer and showed 5bhp.

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"Technology"? Since the grounding kit is just wires I'm assuming the technology you refer to is the Voltage Stabilizer. What exactly is a voltage stabilizer? A resistor? A capacitor?

An empty box? ;)

[Jiberjaber]

I import them,same technology just unbranded so loads cheaper. People are skeptical about these but then it new so thats understandable.

I dont know of anybody who has fitted these kits not notice a difference.

My idle used to fluctuate especially when cold but now sits rock steady, buddy club tested theirs on a new impreza and got 8bhp, my kits were tested on a civic type r by the manufacturer and showed 5bhp.

←

"Technology"? Since the grounding kit is just wires I'm assuming the technology you refer to is the Voltage Stabilizer. What exactly is a voltage stabilizer? A resistor? A capacitor?

An empty box? ;)

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Capacitors (see link above).

[Jiberjaber]

I import them,same technology just unbranded so loads cheaper. People are skeptical about these but then it new so thats understandable.

I dont know of anybody who has fitted these kits not notice a difference.

My idle used to fluctuate especially when cold but now sits rock steady, buddy club tested theirs on a new impreza and got 8bhp, my kits were tested on a civic type r by the manufacturer and showed 5bhp.

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Dano,

Do you have a website we can look at ?

[Mr Singh]

Dano,

Do you have a website we can look at ?

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************** not an authorised trader

Edited May 19, 2005 by ScarFace

[PhoneDrome]

Testfile: LINK

[Mr Morse]

Testfile: LINK

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But they have not published the quantatative data

[PhoneDrome]

Yes. now I see that too. You have to pay for the complete report. :(

But the description of how such a system works is not bad too.

But do I really need this. I drive a Lex.. it starts every morning and drives very nice.

What I know is that the automatics achieve a good improvement (noticable). But not the manuals.

You get lots of this boxes on eBay.com. Do a search for "voltage stabilizer". There you find this box "w/meter".