Assembly

Here’s a rundown on the complete assembly, with notes on simplifying sans clip:

1. Fuse tap plugged into the engine compartment fuse box. Choose a fuse for a circuit powered when the ignition switch is on, pull that fuse out, plug in the fuse tap, plug the fuse and a second identical fuse into the fuse tap. Now you have a red wire to extend into anything you want, including charging that air :-) Do secure it well, until you are ready to use it.
2. You may wish to set up your first build to charge air directly, because it is simpler. If you go this route, I’ll suggest using one of these (see pic to the right). You can buy them here, quite inexpensively at this writing. Be sure you get the 12VDC version, the others won’t work in a car. We can supply you with these which we have tested for output, too.
   
   1. If you go with charging air directly, you can probably use as many of the quad-output components above as you can find space for; you’ll get more results for every addition. The catch is that somehow you have to keep the business ends (the little carbon brushes) in the airflow into the engine. I did it starting with one, then three, six, nine, and twelve components. I mounted the boxes on the outside, drilled 36 holes in the air cleaner compartment, and glued the business ends in. Worked for a while, but after a year or so I noticed that the ends had been sucked in a bit, into contact with the filter, overcharging.
      
   2. So I’ll suggest that a good “direct charge” setup is just one or a few of these very standard quad-output components, set up something like this, altogether inside the air filter compartment in some way. Here’s the way I had it for a while, with the output wires wound up and bound using twist-ties.
      
   3. Once you have your layout figured out, all you have to do is run wire from the black (ground) of your component(s) to a screw on the frame of your vehicle, and then connect the red to the fuse tap. I have been finding these lever-nuts to be by far the most convenient way to handle the connections. They are strong enough to be permanent, but are very easily removable for changes and improvement. There are several companies making them now.
      
   4. I have had a power-illuminated switch on the Tahoe since the very start, it helps make it clear when the setup is active and inactive.
3. If we want maximum result, we charge the air filter itself, we clip the output of the air charger component onto metal in heavy contact with the filter. When just one of the four wires of the above quad unit, is clipped to appropriate filter-related metal, the result is far more than a full dozen quad outputs delivering directly to air! If you do this, be sure to reduce and control voltage, and add thermostatic control, and you’ll know if you are overcharging because your plugs will foul!!! Our current method is below.
   
   1. So first of all, we don’t need a quad-output; we need a single output. This one is working very well.
      
   2. The next addition is voltage control. Vehicle electrical systems throw out quite wildly varying voltage, a range of 10.9VDC to 14.8VDC is common on the Tahoe. We want one steady voltage, for very steady output, so that OEM (or other) computer control on the engine isn’t getting wildly varying kinds of air in the intake. And we want it reduced, because the output of even this single-output component is very high when clipped to the filter. So we add a DC-to-DC power converter, which takes whatever is coming in and outputs a very flat 5.0 volts DC. Your engine, especially if it is smaller than the Tahoe’s 5.7L V8, may well need a lower voltage than 5.0VDC. There are common components which output 3.3VDC, and 2VDC, and variable. But do buy ones which are sealed, unless you plan to make your own sealed container for them all.
      
   3. And then we need thermostatic control. On the Tahoe, the single-output component running with a clip at 5VDC, runs AOK down to about 3 C (37 F), at which time it starts to foul plugs. So we need to keep this system turned off if the temperature is too cold. The best component thus far identified for this, is this thermostatic switch, which can be set any way we want, and after trial and clear error, 3C / 37F has been stable for quite a while. The rig is set so that when the engine heats up the air filter compartment above that trigger temperature, the switch closes. I have an LED wired up so I can watch that happen, and it does get interesting sometimes, as outside and inside temperatures change.
      
   4. This particular vehicle has made the clip method rather easy: the standard OEM filter has a metal mesh holding it together. So all I had to do, was secure an alligator clip to the white lead of the air charger component, and clip it to the mesh. Many vehicles now are using filters which are all paper with rubber surrounding; for these, the current plan is to buy some stainless steel or nickel mesh, bend it in a zigzag, and embed it into the filter folds. It is not clear whether “hardware cloth” from the neighborhood hardware store will be sufficiently corrosion-resistant; some stainless steels are not very corrosion-resistant. McMaster-Carr does have nickel meshes readily available.
      

So that’s it! Works very well. Do notice that overcharging is likely to occur, necessitating replacement of spark plugs, until appropriate control is achieved. There does appear to be an effect to be avoided, probably when humidity is high and temperature very near freezing; the above clearly handles this. We are profoundly curious as to whether significantly greater advantage is available with diesel engines, because…no plugs!