My e-Ram IS a dud!! - CEG Archives

Okay, I still haven't managed to measure the exact current drawn by my e-RAM, or the voltage drop in its wiring for that matter, but I have managed to contrive a pressure measurement. And it's putting out way less than advertised.

(Does anybody remember those simple little current meters which consist of a little compass needle on a spring, which would measure the current in battery cables and other heavy wiring just by being held next to it? I can't find one. Don't they still make them?)

I can estimate the current crudely. Running the e-RAM dropped the voltage at the battery terminal by 0.5v, and turning on the headlights dropped it by 0.4v on low beams and 0.55v on high beams. So, the thingy draws less current than the high beams do. I think my bulbs are stock, or close enough, and the Haynes manual gives both high and low beam wattage as 55 per bulb. This leads me to conclude that the e-RAM is drawing more than 110 watts and less than 220. That would be maybe 15 amperes. Given that it's advertised to draw 700 watts or 50 amperes, this is not good.

Now, air pressure. I hooked up a ten foot length of clear vinyl tubing to the valve cover vent attachment nipple on the CTA intake, and made a U-bend in it with water inside. I could then measure the difference in level between the two tubes, which is proportional to the air pressure difference.

I tried it with the engine off, with the engine idling, and with the engine revved to 3000-4000 in neutral. (I had no way to try this while under load, or at any really wide throttle.) The off measurement was 7.5 inches, idle was 9.3 inches, and revved up was a little less, maybe 9.0 inches. I think there was about 0.3 inches of vacuum when revved with the e-RAM off, so I'll go with the figure of 9.3 inches. That makes about 0.35 pounds per square inch, barely more than a third of what was advertised!

I've seen one other guy complain that his e-RAM drew only 15 amps and produced far less than advertised pressure. It looks to me like the company once sold a good fan, and then -- perhaps when the product changed ownership a year or two ago -- they substituted a cheap inferior fan without changing the advertising claims.

Now we'll see if their guarantee is any good.

I was hoping it would work out for you.

maybe you should try the tornado?

a picture of my installation:

nice installation,, those wires are sorta small,,, have u contacted the company,, that really sucks,, hope u figure it out

Any news on if your's was just a fluke???

Nice install...Let us know what happens!

Okay, the guy at e-RAM is having me send in the fan to see if there's something wrong with it. He assures me that the new plastic one is not weaker or cheaper than the old metal one -- he says it's more efficient, in fact.

The motor inside, I observed, is a model airplane motor made by Astro Flight, which from what I've been able to glean off the web is considered a high quality product. But I haven't been able to figure out which particular Astro Flight model it is. Might be a 608 or 610, or maybe a 305 or 306 intended for model boats instead of planes.

Originally posted by Paul Kienitz:
Might be a 608 or 610, or maybe a 305 or 306 intended for model boats instead of planes.

Turns out it's a 610, a.k.a model FAI-15, with a different custom winding.

I'm sending it back now. I notice that there is a scraped spot on the inside where apparently the fan blades rubbed during operation at least once, but I'm pretty sure it was not pinched there in its working install position... or was it?

I tried an ohmmeter on it, and the resistance should have been way under one ohm, but it kept coming up as 1.5 ohms. That's not right.

i thought the e-ram is 700 watts, that airplane motor is 375watts????

Originally posted by Paul Kienitz:
I notice that there is a scraped spot on the inside where apparently the fan blades rubbed during operation at least once, but I'm pretty sure it was not pinched there in its working install position... or was it?

Even on the old metal ones you could tighten the hose clamps tight enough to make the fan blades scrape the housing. In fact, that's how I lost mine... because I was scared of over tightening them and I ended up leaving them to loose.

As for the difference in wattage Kermit, look at the post above yours for the words "custom winding". Most likely they rewound it with a slightly thicker gauge to handle the 12V car battery and it's different amperage discharge rates when compared to the 7.2V or 8.4V batteries most model engines are designed for.

Originally posted by bnoon:
As for the difference in wattage Kermit, look at the post above yours for the words "custom winding". Most likely they rewound it with a slightly thicker gauge to handle the 12V car battery and it's different amperage discharge rates when compared to the 7.2V or 8.4V batteries most model engines are designed for.

The stock FAI-15 is meant for 9.6 to 12.0 volts, so they probably used thicker gauge to draw more current.

Besides the custom winding, also keep in mind that the 375 watt rating is, I believe, for continuous duty. When used for short periods, typical electric motors can often handle twice the wattage they would be safe with for long runs.

That's one thing that's cool about electric cars... a motor rated for as little as 40 horsepower can give you adequate driving acceleration, because it's only applied briefly.

that's what i figured , just wanted to make sure...

i know this is a little off topic but i'm having problems with my Tornado system...

Paul is trying something pretty new. At least one member dyno'd a gain w/ this thing (on a different engine, though). I'm giving him props. I hope it works out. Even if it doesn't, I'll still give him props for 1) trying something new, and 2) letting us know about "snake oil"

Well, the e-RAM guy bench-tested my unit and says it's working up to spec, drawing 47 amps and putting out the expected thrust, so he's sending it back.