If you’re familiar with our products you know we offer different Weego models for varying engine sizes – the larger the Weego model, the larger an engine it can jump – but why do larger engines need more power during a jump start? The terms 4-cylinder engine, 6-cylinder engine, etc. are commonly heard when talking about cars or engines in general, and it’s these cylinders that determine how much power an engine needs in order to start; however, we’re not so much concerned with how many cylinders an engine has, but rather how big are they? Before we get into it though, it’s good to know what cylinders do on a basic level. From our previous blog post, “What Makes Your Car Move Forward”: In a nut shell, there’s a series of mini explosions going on inside your engine. These mini explosions happen inside each cylinder and create a downward force that pushes on what’s called a piston. Think of a piston like a bike pedal – when you push down on the bike pedal with your foot, the wheels turn and the bike moves forward; when the force from these mini explosions push the piston downward, the wheels turn and the vehicle moves forward.
In each cylinder gasoline is drawn in, compressed, and ignited. The larger the cylinder, the more fuel it has to draw in and compress; the more fuel it has to draw in and compress, the harder the engine has to work; the harder an engine has to work, the more power it needs! That’s where Weego comes in…. Weego doesn’t recommend product based on the number of cylinders an engine has, but rather how many liters – liters are a way of measuring an engine’s displacement, or the combined volume of all the engine’s cylinders. If an engine has a large displacement, that means it’s drawing in, compressing, and igniting a lot of fuel at once. That’s going to take a lot more power than an engine that has a relatively small displacement. When you’re starting a vehicle all of the engine components are at rest, so there is no momentum to help it along. All that power needed to get your engine started from rest is coming from the battery and, in some cases, your jump starter. Once your car is running the energy comes from momentum and your alternator, not the battery. Sometimes you’ll have a 4-cylinder engine with really large cylinders, and a 6-cylinder engine with really small cylinders. The 4-cylinder engine may have a larger displacement than the 6-cylinder engine despite having less cylinders, and therefore require more power to start. That’s why Weego goes by liters not cylinders, and that’s important to our product recommendations. Through a bunch of testing we’ve carefully come up with our Weego-To-Engine-Size Product Recommendations in order to supply you the power you need to the best of our ability. It’s not always perfect, because sometimes other factors are at play that can change the power requirement of your engine. To name a few:
- Engine condition
- Battery condition
- Outside temperature
- Unique components/electronics that effect power consumption at engine start
- And so on….
