Just wanted to share this info with all of you...
I'm pretty interested in getting a turbo for my sidekick 1.6L, 16V. After checking all those scam electric turbos and doing some research came to the "Thomas Knight supercharger", a bolt-on type of turbo. So, I e-mailed them and this is what I got:

Mario,
 The Suzuki is a high revving little 1.3 liter--many of my [...] friends have raced them, and they will spin very high rpm when boosted. The bottom line is you want our ESC-550. You may not need all 10hp at first, but I assure you once you feel boost and decide you want some more, you will be glad to have the ESC-550. In the future you can also use it on engines up to 4.0 (at lower rpm, of course). The ESC-550 uses a 24v battery setup (two standard batteries), so you add another bat to your existing one. With our 12-24v series-parallel system, your stock alternator charges the two bats (in parallel) while you drive, and then it switches to 24v (series) for the ESC with the flip of a switch. I include everything except the extra battery and the battery cables, as those are heavy and expensive to ship.
 
  Retail is $2295, but I have them on sale till 12/15 for $1500 delivered. Build time is 3-4 weeks, so if you order now you can have it by Christmas and install it and go have fun.

Here's the link to the webpage: WWW.BOOSTHEAD.COM
Hope somebody would benefit from this info!  
Cheers,

Mario

Cool. I like the idea.....I'll add some of my thoughts and some other info I got from curiosity and a quick browse.

Its appears to be a different setup, and not just a shop vac motor strapped to your intake..... He takes an Eaton Supercharger and removes the nose to adapt electric motors to. Therefore instead of the conventional belt driving the supercharger it is instead electric motors. Unfortunately the system is only a "temporary" type boost which makes it more like nitrous. The 24v batteries can not run all the time, because your alternator can't keep up. So you switch it on/off.


Example Photo:



Excert from an article <source link>:
"...The Eaton lasts 158K as a belt-driven supercharger. As an ESC they should last 4 million miles. The electric motors have a 1000-hour life expectancy; at 400 seconds per day that's 24 years."


Thanks for sharing Mario. I always like to see something different.....And I never heard of this guy. I think the major draw back will be the additional weight from the battery and the fact it is only temporary. I myself have toyed with the thought of "boost." I think you can do around 6psi on the factory electronics. 

I never pursued it much....but I wander how much a nitrous system costs for the sidekicks?

REALLY? "all 10 HP?? that's not 10psi.....but 10HP for 1500? what a joke!

you will loose that with the extra 200 pounds of crap to only occasionally operate the supercharger....that will act as a power restricter when not in use (loss of air flow).

This is a classic case of fixing a problem that don't exist. or a stoner, meth addict and a guy with some money get together brainstorming.

Further digging around, shows this guy has been around for years. I guess I'm just not on the turbo scene.

....

This is a classic case of fixing a problem that don't exist. or a stoner, meth addict and a guy with some money get together brainstorming.

I don't know if I would take it that far.....its just thinking about it different.

I do agree though, it is not a reasonable solution. I think nitrous would be better if you want a "temporary" type boost for strait line or short obstacles....and ultimately I think $1500 could buy you a better traditional turbo system.

I think you could get more than 10bhp from $1500 of conventional tuning. A decent cam, header and exhaust and you should have change for some beers 

necessity is the mother of invention right? this must be the drunken uncle.

By saying it fixes a problem that don't exist simply means..."ultimately I think $1500 could buy you a better traditional turbo system" with less weight less cost and more return. that goes for a belt driven system or conventional engine driven turbo system.
And yea I like the idea too its just not feasible solution for induction. I.E....not needed.

I think there was a mistake on his e-mail answer. I checked the specifications of the turbo on the web page and it says about 400hp at 6psi and 800hp maximum! So perhaps he meant 10 psi instead of 10hp. That makes a lot more sense now.

Mario

REALLY? "all 10 HP?? that's not 10psi.........

I should have also clarified that when I saw it yesterday and the quick wiki type info I got..... The 10hp is the HP of the combined electric motors. I guess the system is capable up of 10+psi boost.

I know what your saying Jluck, and I wasn't trying to be smart about it.  You know as well as I that you will get some ppl who will swear by displacement and others swear by turbos, some swear by jeep and some swear by toyotas......I like the idea of thinking a little unconventional sometimes. I think in the future that DC motors and battery technology, might make this idea more feasible. But then again by then it might be more practical to put a "complete" DC motor instead of the gas engines. /shrug

I'm not a supporter of the guy, just a supporter of information and discussion.

For all the extra complication of batteries, electric motors and such, why not just adapt a belt drivin supercharger and call it boosted? I'm sure it's possible to make 10 lbs boost with an electric drivin motor, I work with air tube transfer systems than can shoot a canister with 5lbs of weight in it 300+ feet through a 3" tube in 8 seconds. The electric motors driving the fans aren't that big, but are also not to exceed more than 15 seconds run time. I think for your money you could adapt a simple turbo system, no intercooler needed, run ALC/H2o injection instead at 5/7 lbs boost, gain 50+ RELIABLE  horsepower, and have it all the time. with all the work that has been done with turbocharging around here there is enough info to do it easily and cheaply. Pobably under $1000. 

Quote from: Jluck on November 30, 2011, 09:50:18 AM

REALLY? "all 10 HP?? that's not 10psi.........

I should have also clarified that when I saw it yesterday and the quick wiki type info I got..... The 10hp is the HP of the combined electric motors. I guess the system is capable up of 10+psi boost.

I know what your saying Jluck, and I wasn't trying to be smart about it.  You know as well as I that you will get some ppl who will swear by displacement and others swear by turbos, some swear by jeep and some swear by toyotas......I like the idea of thinking a little unconventional sometimes. I think in the future that DC motors and battery technology, might make this idea more feasible. But then again by then it might be more practical to put a "complete" DC motor instead of the gas engines. /shrug

I'm not a supporter of the guy, just a supporter of information and discussion.

I am not trying to be an ass either but at the earliest stages of engineering a huge problem should have presented it's self. That leads me to believe there was only half of R&D done. (development part). All prudent information regardind air flow and forced induction is available. therefor this particular set up is a fail. the same exact supercharger with one simple belt and pulley would produce at all times what this electric system produces occasionally when its not costing you HP power at the non-running stages.
I also like information and discussion If only Thomas Knight had applied at least one of them.....

I guess we just disagree on whether this Thomas Knight guy is a fake/stupid/dumb/etc. I don't even know the guy, but I don't think I would throw him under the buss.

I think he created another answer to a common problem, and hopefully he will eventually improve his system to make it more competitive with current solutions.

I think it's pretty darn cool.. for those applications that exhaust piping or belt driving are not an option here is a solution. shit you could put that in the trunk if you wanted... I like it

Hi guys

Interesting stuff. I am not totally knocking this idea, but for some reason I would rather go for this setup than the one in the original post.

http://www.superpowercharger.com/index.htm

I do not see a lot of down sides to this electric supercharger other than price and having to custom fabricate installation hardware. I have owned a belt driven supercharged vehicle and the power increase was both phenomenal and fun. But daily driving for the most part it was being bypassed via bypass valve. So as for "temporary" use of an electric supercharger I can see some positive sides to it. Having a trigger switch connected to WOT or perhaps slightly before WOT usage might also be an option and even a manual switch in the vehicle for ON/OFF of the unit as well. This supercharger seems to be manufactured and set up just as a belt driven unit would be, only lighter in weight and more efficient. Of course it needs an extra battery and capacitor but neither are hugely heavy compared to some of the other stuff we off-road guys use on our rigs, such as metal bumpers, winches, roll bars e.t.c. Just my 2 cents 

Best regards,
Tryggvi

I'm still trying to see the advantages of a electriclly drivin supercharger as opposed to a belt drivin one. A constantly drivin belt type supercharger will give you boost ALL the time, especially at low rpms where these little motors need it the most, providing much more torque everywhere. For the cost of these systems, close to $5k, I just can't see the advantage.

I just cant see this being a long term viable option, especially without very costly DC brushless motors, this kit uses run of the mill starter motors! I think it is Garrett that has a engine driven hydraulic scroll compressor that uses a pump not much larger than a power steering pump and the compressor section of a turbo that can be mounted up to approx 3 feet from the pump, this would be far more reliable than an electric motor. Electric motors would have serious issues with lag due to such low torque at startup and low rpm's.