"If I disconnect my radio and all other electric using devices in the car does it get better gas mileage?"

Question

I think there is extra energy not being used. I am getting at that, these hydrogen boosters systems, I think, can work. If you are posting to say that the energy output doesn't even equal the input blah blah blah... Don't inflate this question, answer it please.

Answer 1

The difficulty is that you were never taught how electric generators react to an increased load.  Most kids these days haven't, because the best demonstration for doing this relied on an old crank-type telephone generator running a small light bulb.  As soon as anyone screwed in the light bulb, you could feel the increased drag on the generator.  Two light bulbs made the thing almost impossible to turn.  A smaller light bulb made it easier to turn.  Unfortunately all those old demonstrations  looked old-fashioned, and science teachers neither understood them nor cared very much about them.  

But what it would have taught you is that there is no 'extra energy' available from any generator, and that includes the one in your car.  The drag on the generator, which comes from the magnetic field of its coils, is precisely proportional to the energy that it's being asked to put out.  

You're thus suffering from the inadequacy and general irrelevance of science programs in schools, which should have taught you how the stuff that surrounds you actually works.  The amount of pseudoscience around these days, and the ease with which people can sell bogus schemes, shows how badly science education has gone off the rails.  

So you'll have a lot to learn, mostly the hard way.  There are those who understand how things work, and those who do not, and we are the ones who are empowered.  Sorry.

Answer 2

O.K., let's say you are driving normally in the day time, and you are not using any extra electric devices, the gas saved is constant. But if you use the radio, Ac, or lights, etc then you are decreasing the gas savings. That is it in a nut shell. Only when on demand does the electric create a drain on the engine combustion system.

Spartawo...

Answer 3

I have improved my gas mileage a little by using a small solar panel plugged into my cig. lighter to replace the power from the alternator used to run the radio and sparkplugs.   Also have overcharged and ruined the battery with it when parked, but thats another story.

Answer 4

yes but you would have trouble starting it and you would get a ticket for not having brake and turn signals.

Answer 5

If you disconnect ALL of the electrical devices that would include the ignition system and the car wouldn't run.

If you disconnect the things you actually mean in your question it would improve the gas mileage.  

BUT:

The improvement would be negligible.  It would be about like spitting into a lake.  It would raise the water level in the lake but the rise would be so small that it would hardly be measurable.

Other items are far more important in fuel economy.  Even washing a dirty car would probably cause as much or more improvement as the electrical system trick.  That would be especially true at freeway speeds.  A couple of things to note are the break even point on Air Conditioning is normally under 40 MPH.  In other words the aerodynamic gain from having the windows closed is more advantageous than turning off the AC.  Also lowering the tailgate on a pickup to improve mileage is a myth.  Myth Buster did wind tunnel test to debunk the myth.  In fact lowering the tail gate actually increases drag.  

Two of the worst things for fuel economy are the hard acceleration you see some people doing and improperly inflated tires.

Answer 6

In theory.  The radio is like spitting in the ocean.  Headlights will actually pull a noticeable amount."

An electricity demand in a car will engage the alternator which will pull on the engine.  The next time you are idling in the daytime, switch on your lights.  I bet you'll notice a drop in engine speed as the alternator "pulls" power.

Answer 7

Yes you would get better fuel mileage, but probably not enough to notice. The electricity you use in a car comes from one of two places, your alternator or battery. The alternator needs power from the engine in order to operate and depending on the output of the alternator; it can draw from 1 to 5 hp from your engine. There is no excess power being generated, your alternator only put out enough power to charge the battery and run the car and accessories, so if you need less power you take less power from your engine.