VTEC with A/C on
 

I was driving around town the other day (it was well into the 90's) and wondered whether driving with the A/C on in this car makes it slower. It seemed a little slower, but wasn't sure if it was just my perception. I used to drive an old accord and it definitely made a difference in that car.

Dimitri

until they go fully electric a/c it will always suck horsepower when you flip it on. notice its a bit more dodgy getting her rolling as well? takes horsepower to turn that a/c pulley ;)

Does anyone know if the A/C is disengaged when you go WOT? I thought I heard this somewhere, but I'm not sure.

that's a new one on me but then again i'm fairly new to the honda side of things.

Pretty much every car made since the 80's will kill the compressor at WOT. I'd be really surprised if the computer didn't operate this way on the s2000.

Don't have one yet but hopefully I can verify this soon on my own...

BTW even if the compressor was electric it would still suck power, the energy to run the AC has to come from somewhere, in cars that "somewhere" is the engine. If the compressor was electric, the alternator would be much harder to turn, thereby reducing your power. Sorry, no free lunch as my dad used to say.

Yes I can verify the compressor shuts off at WOT on all S2000's for that very reason, it sucks HP to turn the A/C pulley :)

[QUOTE=elsensei,Jun 6 2005, 02:26 PM] Pretty much every car made since the 80's will kill the compressor at WOT.

yeah, but current solar technology can't give you near enough power. You would maybe get 50 watts at best from a panel say over the hood. Need probably 750 watts+ to run a decent compressor plus interior circulation fan. Remember house A/C's are typically 5,000 and up so those are the power demands you are dealing with.

Can't use the "wind" generated by the car moving itself because again, what is making it move? The engine, so anything sticking out to catch the wind will slow you down, and again you can't get a big enough wind generator for those types of wattages.

Believe me, engineers have looked at it and if there was an easy way they would have done it by now.

Fun to dream, though!

yeah the A/C shuts off WOT and it hits VTEC something about the compressor not being able to run and push the freon at 9000 RPM.

I can tell you that the AC doesn't cool very well if you're WOT from one light to the next.