When cars were just being invented... most of them had Starter/Generators on them.... if the engine were turning it it produced electricity...and if you fed power to it it was an electric motor....
As such it was attached and geared in a fashion which would actually take advantage of braking by using the engine much more directly than this add on..
And would have worked much better on a Diesel since they completely cut of fuel when being used for a brake... unlike carbed gas engines which will draw gas in just due to air flow. ( talking historically here )...
Just a few decades ago Gravely Two wheeled walking tractors still used this generator/starter combo on the 8 and 10 hp models.... and plenty of them are still in use...

I agree with you ryan. The rest of the site makes me skeptical too. Looks like a "snake oil" site.

And that engine braking thing being illegal, seems thats a trucker or big rig problem. Isn't engine braking the same thing as downshifting without using your brakes? Someone please correct me.

Yeah you can do a total car tune up, and get your "stock" mileage and your "stock" acceleration. Yes you can lighten up the car to get "better than stock" mileage and acceleration (that back seat is heavy as hell, isn't it coldwar!) So this is just one more thing to add onto all of that so we can have a w123 that gets 30-40 mpg. or whatever you drive.

Now here's an idea, someone make a starter that turns into a generator after start up (i just read your thread leathermang) and that would power the electrocharger or keep on running just like the electrocharger. Ahh forget it, we're all too lazy. (someone please prove me wrong, i'll follow)

Anyways, I just really thought it was a great idea, and I wish I had thought of it first. Let's just wait for some rich diesel owner to buy it and try it for the rest of us! or just wait and see the news ticker on the bottom of that site for the results.

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'80 240D (sold) wish I didn't.
'85 300D (240K miles)

Let me reiterate, since you obviously didn't read my first post, engine braking is not illegal. You are correct that engine braking is akin to downshifting. Exhaust brakes are illegal in some locations, but that is a totally different thing from engine braking.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

Habenero, you have it mixed up or your messing with me. exhaust brakes are quiet and legal, jake brakes or engine brakes are loud and illegal. do a google search.

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'80 240D (sold) wish I didn't.
'85 300D (240K miles)

I'm sorry I wasn't very good with my terminology. All my trucker friends have always referred to Jake brakes as exhaust brakes, but now after reading up I see Jacobs does actually call them engine brakes (although they also make exhaust brakes).

Engine braking in the context I was referring to, was downshifting to slow the vehicle which is definitely not illegal. So an engine brake is illegal, but engine braking (in the context of downshifting, not as in the context of applying an engine brake) isn't illegal. Sorry for the confusion.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

I was wrong, engine braking (downshifting and using the engine to brake) is banned only for trucks in many towns in AZ, because of the huge plumes of soot it produces, I assume. There's signs that say "Trucks- No Engine Braking withing town limits". Some of the signs don't say "Trucks".

Bruce McCreary
Snowflake, AZ (White Mountains)
'85 300D

i think that the reason jake brakes are banned is for the noise, which can scare the bejesus out of you.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I always hated those stupid laws. The one that steamed me the most was on I-80 west, headed into SLC, UT. Nearing the bottom of Parleys summit, with the brakes, and jakes both being used to hold a 112,000 pound rig to a safe speed, and I was expected to cut out the use of one of the devices keeping me, and the other motorists safe? I ignored it. Interestingly enough, I never got stopped for using my jakes either.

I just saw a sign this weekend in a small Kansas town that said unmuffled jacobs brakes were illegal according to city ordinance. That was a new one to me, as I have never heard a muffled jake (but maybe that is the point).

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

So, you don't like the idea of an electric motor "supercharger"?

How about an Electric supercharger for faster spool-up?

Let's say the Electro Charger increased your mileage by 10%. How long would it take to pay for itself in saved fuel?

Even most of the hybrid cars that cost more, take an awful long time to pay back the extra cost with fuel savings.

I wonder how large the capacitor pack would have to be to put out the mentioned 28,000 watts for any period of time. Capacitors usually discharge in a fraction of a second. Also how large would a 30+ horsepower motor be?

P E H

Haven't you heard....alien technology has reduced that in size to the size of a alternator. adn it takes almost no power to function.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche