One of the essential components of a car is its charging system. This is because it is responsible for ensuring that the electrical system receives enough power and for also recharging the battery. The alternator, which produces electricity, is one of the elements that enable this.
One of the oldest beliefs regarding automobiles is that driving faster would cause the car battery to charge faster than usual. Does that belief contain any truth?
The answer is yes; revving your car engine could charge your battery faster. The reason is that when a car’s engine is revved, the crankshaft is turned faster, causing the alternator belt to rotate more quickly. The rate of the alternator determines the electric charge available for the car to run all the electric-related components, thereby charging the battery.
What Does Car Revving Mean?
Rev is the clipped form of revolution. It is often meant to increase the rate at which the car engine works. When you rev a vehicle’s engine or when the engine revs, the engine speed rises when the accelerator is depressed.
Thus, car revving is the process of accelerating the car. It means that you increase the car engine’s revolution per minute (RPM) using the accelerator (pedal). And because the motion of the crankshaft is dependent on how fast or slow one presses the pedal, revving your car might be an inevitable thing you would do while driving sometimes.
Can Revving Your Car Engine Cause Any Form of Damage?
A quick caution that many give concerning revving a car engine is to ensure that the battery is not a dead cell. If you are dealing with a dead cell, the best approach would be to find a way to charge it using an external charger.
Back to whether there could be damage to your car, yes, it could. This is why you need to follow some steps such as:
- Keeping your engine in a neutral position: Before revving, ensure that you have removed the car’s gear from “drive” or “park” to the neutral position. Putting your car in a neutral position also entails that you haven’t left the car for a long time before you rev.
- Warming the Engine: When the engine is cool, it is dangerous to rev. To minimize damages, start the engine warming it up. It aids in oil distribution throughout the engine and raises the temperature of the engine oil and block. Cold revving results in sudden temperature variations that stress the tightly-fitting parts of the engine.
- Avoiding alternate heating and cooling: You should avoid revving the car incessantly. Many are found revving a cool engine. This could cause lots of wear to the engine. Since revving is to accelerate or charge, you should only do it in extreme periods.
- Checking battery life: Be sure you check whether the battery is low or dead. If you are dealing with a low battery, kindly start the engine and leave it warm up before revving. In the case of dead batteries, avoid revving and find other means to save damages.
How Does a Car Charging System Work?
The charging system generates power from a series of connected components in the car. The crankshaft is one of the components, and it is connected to the engine. Next, we have the serpentine belt, which connects the crankshaft with the rotor within the alternator. The alternator is now connected to the voltage regulator, which is then connected to the battery and the car electrical systems.
The crankshaft converts linear motion to rotational motion. Hence, it turns when the engine revs up, and the more it revs up, the faster it will turn. The alternator belt connected to the rotor will then move due to the motion created simultaneously.
The rotating rotor will enable the alternator to generate current, allowing it to pass through the voltage regulator. From here, the regulator allocates the power between the battery and the electrical system.
The above illustration shows that all of them are connected like a network. And this network works as a single unit through a periodic motion. Therefore, when all of them are in good condition, the system’s efficiency will be remarkable.
However, taking out one of them will make the entire system inefficient since the elements are chained together.
This also implies that revving up the engine will lead to a more substantial amount of current generated by the alternator. This is due to the chain reaction that will begin with the high RPM of the crankshaft to increase the RPM of the alternator’s rotor.
With more current to allocate, the chance of having more excess current is excellent, which will charge the battery faster.
How To Rev a Car Engine?
Revving your car is easy. Besides what has been discussed concerning the caution and when to rev, how does one rev a car engine so much that it could assist in increasing the battery charging rate? The following are a few steps to revving your car engine:
- Start your engine: Revving your car while the engine is switched off is considered harmful. So, to rev your car engine, you need to put on the engine. Besides, you should start the engine because revving most times requires a sudden acceleration of the car. As such, the car needs to be running to rev it.
- Let the engine Oil circulate: Warm the engine for some minutes to keep the engine up before revving. It helps to avoid problems, especially with dead cells.
- Press the Accelerator Pedal: Once the engine oil has circulated, you can rev by pressing the accelerator pedal. As you do, ensure your car is at the highest speed by waiting until the tachometer reaches the red gauge.
- Keep the Engine Idle: After the engine is at the highest speed, you would release the accelerator pedal so the car can return to its idle state. Your engine is revving, and the battery should be charged. The question of whether the charging is fast is true too.
Revving a Dead Cell?
Revving a car engine to keep the charging faster might seem unnecessary, except on rare occasions. This is because when you do, you put more pressure on your engine, which is unnecessary. Since starting up your car engine and leaving it to work for some time could help charge the battery, there’s hardly a need to rev it. However, on a dead cell, Revving is not advisable.
Sure, it can get you on the road for some minutes, but it will only send your battery to its doom earlier than expected. The basic reason is that to use the alternator on a dead battery, you would need to buy enough gas and keep tasking the car until the battery charges. Since the alternator wouldn’t be advisable on a dead cell, it is better to charge the car battery with an external (battery) charger. Using an external charger is cost-effective.
Features of Car Charging System
There are three features of a car that constitute its charging system. These parts are the voltage controller, alternator, and battery. The alternator is responsible for
The battery stores the voltage while the voltage controller regulates current movement during charging. Other minor subcomponents support the battery, voltage controller, and alternator to achieve optimum charging phases.
Some components are alternator belts that connect the charging system, rotor, and crankshaft for acceleration. Note that the overall performance of the charging system is determined by the amount of current stored per time, which is from the collective works of the components. For this reason, there is a need to ensure that all components are in good health.
Can Revving Jumpstart a Car Battery
You are now aware of how a car’s charging system functions. You also know that revving the engine speeds up battery charging. So you may be wondering if revving can be used to jumpstart a dead car battery. The answer is Yes; it can be used to jumpstart a dead car battery!
The alternator’s voltage output is controlled and kept between 14.4 and 14.6 volts. So the current supplied is sufficient to charge a lead-acid battery. However, the alternator’s rotating speed significantly impacts the output current. Up to its design limit, the alternator can generate a greater quantity of current the faster it revolves.
However, the alternator must first supply enough current to run the ignition, radio, heater fan, and enough current to replenish the car battery. When the engine is idling, there is relatively little excess current available to charge the battery very well.
When the battery jumps, connect back the cables and start the engine for about 5 minutes while raising the engine to approximately 2000 RPM. This does two things. First, it heats the depleted battery, and the increased temperature causes the chemical process to accelerate further. Second, it charges the surface charge of the depleted battery, which helps it last longer.