Low voltage cause WOT issuers ?

**Camarosseasttn** · 10-21-2019, 09:45 AM

Hey I was at the drag strip over the weekend and was entered in a race when my alternator went out, in my data log it showed the voltage was around 11.0-10.9. My car is a nitrous car. It seemed down on power that night by at least 0.2 and 3 mph in the 1/8 mile. I was wondering if that could have been the problem?

***SMWS6TA*** · 10-21-2019, 10:00 AM

Belt slippage?

**Camarosseasttn** · 10-21-2019, 04:31 PM

No sir the alternator just went out.. idk if that would hurt performance at wot only having 10.9 - 11.0 volts going down the track ?..

***SMWS6TA*** · 10-22-2019, 09:02 AM

If it's not charging the system then yes. That's why between runs at the track teams will throw a charger on or swap in a fresh battery so that the voltage is at full charge when they don't run an alternator on their setups.
If the battery is weak or near dead the coils aren't getting enough to generate full spark, which will lead to miss-fires. As the engine revs up the spark fired is more frequent.

Another possibility could have been the Air Density Pressure. Hot days/nights have less dense air which means less power. Cold days/nights = more dense air = more power.
All engines have to factor this in whether they are NA, Nitrous, or boosted. It's why most boosted cars run air coolers with ice water for the track.

I'm tempted to lean towards the air density issue more so then the alternator.