Originally Posted by 240M3SRT
...I cant remember what the title of it is but someone included a passage from an article that stated if the SC were to kick on after 3000 that the load on the belt could be to high resulting to breakage.
However, the way the artilce reads makes it sound exactly the opposite...the way you described it. Upon me pointing this out some members helped clear this up and when i re-read it i understood it.
+1 "The supercharger engages on an as-needed basis to reduce parasitic losses and save gas when less power is called for. Air flows right through the scroll-type compressor, so no bypass is needed. The clutch is a conventional air-conditioning compressor clutch. It is not necessary for C32 and SLK32 drivers to flick a switch to spool up the blower because a computer does that for them. The engagement is undetectable from the driver's seat. The compressor is driven off the engine's serpentine belt, which would snap if the supercharger's clutch suddenly engaged at high rpm, so the computer is programmed only to do so when the engine is below 3000 rpm" Link to original article…
http://www.sae.org/automag/techbrief...001/techb3.htm