Aftermarket hardware

This page lists the various aftermarket hardware.

=Aftermarket hardware addable to vehicles =

Aftermarket ECU's
In direct injection engines (1), open-source and closed-source (commercial) aftermarket ECU's allow setting the amount of fuel injected as well as alter the timing, and this for both liquids and gases.

It thus allows for water, alcohol, biogas (or methane), and even nitrous oxide injection to the engine. All these will help to increase speed and eliminate emissions (except for water, which just reduces knocking, and allows more fuel to be injected)

This hence allows people to make their car with conventional gasoline engine (with direct injection) both faster and more ecologic (emitting nothing, if only the alcohol, methane or nitrous oxide is injected, and no fossil fuels -so no dual injection-)

Open-source ECU's (intented for gasoline engines) include:
 * Speeduino
 * rusEfi
 * FreeEMS
 * SECU-3
 * VEMS

The aftermarket ECU's intented for Diesel engines can also allow for extra comfort when using pure plant oil. This, because the the fuel tank or fuel line requires heating. There are both electric heaters and water-based heat exchangers (running from the water coolant tank) for this. The electric heaters work immediately, the water-based heat exchangers don't work from the start (so require either an additional electric heater or a 2-tank system so they can be started on conventional diesel). It would be useful to integrate the ability to connect/disconnect electric heaters and/or open/close valves (the latter for if a 2-tank system is used). So far, most ECU's do not allow this, but it could be integrated in later versions allowing easier use with the heating system provided by PPO kits (see further down below).

Open-source ECU's (intented for Diesel engines) include:
 * DMN-EDC

Biogas kits
For converting your vehicle to biogas, CNG conversion kits can be used. Basically, you can just use an open-source ECU (for changing the air-fuel ratio to 16.8:1) -or alter the carburator if you have an indirect-injection gasoline engine-. Additionally, you can switch your standard gasoline tank with a stronger tank (as the CNG/biogas tank must allow for pressures upto 3600 psi) and add a pressure reducer (which reduces pressure between the tank and the fuel injector). Also needed is a system to switch between your first fuel tank (holding biobutanol or ethanol) and your second one (holding biogas). Keep in mind that since the biogas is stored at such high pressure, this can be dangerous, and your vehicle would only be road-legal if you let a certified CNG installer install it. Note that, although LPG conversion kits have similar parts you can't use an LPG conversion kit for using biogas, as the pressure that tank needs to be able to withstand is only 100-200 psi (so those tanks are generally too weak).

Some kits are:
 * SkyCNG
 * CNGUnited
 * CNGNow

HHO boosters
You can download the plans of the open-source HHO generators from here

HHO (or oxyhydrogen) generators produce oxyhydrogen, and mix it in with either gasoline (gasoline engines) or biodiesel/pure plant oil (diesel engines). By producing and injecting oxyhydrogen (by means of a chemical reaction created using power from your car battery), it allows running on a leaner air-fuel mixture and still allow for a good combustion (that is, if you use an EFIE). The air-fuel ratio can be as lean as 20:1 (normal is 14.7:1). They hereby allow for 20%-40% more miles to the gallon. The correct amount of HHO to use is about 0,125 liter per minute per liter of engine size. Introduction to the engine can be done using indirect injection or direct injection (ie by using an open-source ECU like the speeduino, and attaching the HHO generator to the fuel lines running to the fuel injectors).

Some HHO generators are:
 * Hydrogen First Aid oxyhydrogen generator
 * Advanced HHO oxyhydrogen generator
 * Fuelsaver-mpg oxyhydrogen generator
 * hydrogenboostnow.com oxyhydrogen generator
 * Hybrid Water Power oxyhydrogen generator
 * Hydrogen-fuel.ca oxyhydrogen generator
 * hydrogen-boost.com oxyhydrogen generator
 * Hydrogen Garage large engine oxyhydrogen generator
 * Central Valley HHO large engine oxyhydrogen generator

Most of these HHO generators can also be used to produce hydrogen instead. To do so, plain distilled water can be used (rather than needing to mix distilled water with baking soda, sodium or potassium hydroxide). The downside however is that this is much less energy efficient. On the other hand, it can be a bit more practical in use, and when directly injecting it, it may still be rather economical.

Pure plant oil kits
Pure plant oil kits allow for running your Diesel engine on pure plant oil (PPO). They basically contain the heaters (or just heating pipes) along with filters and sometimes an extra fuel pump. They come in 2 forms: single and double tank kits. Single tank kits start directly from PPO, whereas 2-tank kits start from a lighter fuel (like petrodiesel or biodiesel), and then switch to PPO from the other tank, once the engine is hot. Some kits are:
 * Plantdrive PPO kit
 * HeiPro PPO kit
 * Greasecar PPO kit
 * Diesel-therm PPO kit
 * Bioplantrix PPO kit
 * Goat Industries PPO kit
 * Biocar PPO kit

Forced induction devices
Forced induction devices include things like turbochargers, superchargers and even fans, ... They are used to increase the amount of air introduced to the engine's ignition chambers. The increase in power that can be expected differs depending on the device used. With turbochargers, an increase of 35-60% can be expected since waste heat is used as the power source. Superchargers and fans increase power outputs significantly less, but are generally cheaper to acquire. The devices can be used mainly on indirect-injection engines, since the air inflow is not electronically controlled with these. Engines that do have electronic ignition systems would require changes in the system to allow using them.

Forced induction devices include:
 * Caframo Lifestyle Solutions thermocouple fan

Display systems
These include the:
 * MPGuino
 * OBDuino

=Aftermarket hardware not addable to vehicles =

Biobutanol processor
Biobutanol processors allow you to make biobutanol (from i.e. algae). Biobutanol can be used in unaltered gasoline engines. Biobutanol processors can be made using Jamie Hestekin's biobutanol processor. The algae can be gathered from a pond, disused swimming pool, photobioreactor or even throughs made in your garden, along with the processor equipment itself.

Biodiesel processor
You can download the plans of the open-source biodiesel processors here

Biodiesel processors allow you to make biodiesel from pure plant oil (and even waste vegetable oil, but you then need to filter it first). This is useful for those customers that don't want to alter their vehicle engine. Commercial companies supplying open-source biodiesel processors include:


 * Utah Biodiesel Supply's Appleseed biodiesel processor
 * Rilla BioFuels LLC Drum Based Biodiesel Processor