Re: Generators vs Alternators

[Jerry R Christensen - <jrc@mninter.net>]

John
DEAD Dead batteries are hard to charge by any means -- the water
has to get changed into sulfuric  (?) acid to react with the lead
or what ever -- clean water does not pass electric current well
--- current has to pass thru the water to change it into acid -- 
a partially charged battery contains SOME acid and allows the
current to change the water into acid -- 

John Teufel wrote:
> 
> Just thought I'd throw this out and see what comes back.
> 1) The electrical system on all the cars and trucks I have ever worked
> on use DC current. Alternators produce AC current and it has to be
> rectified before the car can use it, Generators produce DC voltage and
> has no diodes (or rectifier if you prefer) to go bad.
> 2) An Alternator is not designed to charge a dead battery (all the tech
> manuals will tell you this). If you do try to charge a dead battery with
> an alternator, you run the risk of burning it up. A generator will
> charge a dead battery with no problem.
> 3) Both generators and alternators need a regulator of some sort so this
> is a non issue.
> 4) Lets see, the down side to a generator is that they don't charge at
> low rpm. IMHO alternators don't do such a great gob at idle either. I
> will prove this any day with a good volt meter. Turn on the head lights,
> and maybe the heater fan and the output from an alternator will drop
> down, granted not below 12v but even on brand new cars you can notice
> the headlights dim at idle.
> 5) downside for a generator, size. Alternators are much more suited for
> small spaces as generators tend to be a bit large.
> 
> well, for what it's worth. this is my opinion on the subject.
> 
> John