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G4XNH > TECHNI 19.08.04 23:17l 74 Lines 3270 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : DE2598G4XNH
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: Re^2: More Battery Confusion.
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<DB0RES<DK0WUE<HA3PG<CT2GWY<GB7YKS
Sent: 040819/1921Z @:GB7YKS.#19.GBR.EU #:12571 [Barnsley] $:DE2598G4XNH
From: G4XNH@GB7YKS.#19.GBR.EU
To : TECHNI@WW
Patrick, DF3VI wrote:-
"Jeff, to help you a little bit understanding:
>>I am well aware that the battery provides ALL the current necessary to
>>start a car.
"But are you aware WHY it is so? I somehow feel you don't...
Then you would be wrong Patrick. WHY? Why what exactly? Why the battery
provides all the current? That is an ambiguous question surely. NO
alternator made could provide the high current necessary to start a car (I
think) and even if it could, it could not do this until the engine was
running, so a Catch 22 situation arises immediately. Unless some form of
self-starting perpetual motion device has been invented? If I am wrong in
this then I will gladly offer my apologies in advance.
Hence, a battery is required to do the inital starting and the alternator
keeps it topped up. All current provided by the battery is replenished as
it is running, if it is not, then the battery will lose charge and becomes
"flat". Or am I wrong.
I believed then that the alternator did not have a high enough output
current to provide the other electricals, the ignition spark, AND the
headlights.
>Again. Basically, once the car was started, (It was an Austin Maxi 1800cc
>as I recall) the car ran with NO problem, without any other electricals
"You still did this with the battery attached, didn't you?"
NO. It was disconnected immediately after starting. I wrote that I only
started the engine with the battery attached. Once started, the battery
was disconnected and the alternator took over.
>running. Then I started to experiment. The side-lights were switched on
"When did you disconnect the battery?"
As I stated, once the engine had started, the battery was disconnected.
"The alternator can of course deliver all the current needed for the
headlights,"
Not with the battery disconnected it couldn't. That WAS my original point.
As also stated, this was not recently either. I have no precise details of
how much current that alternator could provide. No doubt not as much as
modern ones I am sure. My writing was about a personal experience of many
years ago Patrick and was not intended as a professional thesis on the
current capabilities of alternators. I stated that without a battery, many
of the lighter current consuming electricals of the car worked fine, but
that the engine cut out once the headlights were switched on. A safety
feature, or limiting device may well have cut in (Which is quite likely)
to protect the alternator (Or the battery, as it would have been assumed
to be attached). The only other answer possible of course would be that
the alternator could not supply the current needed. I never took it any
further to find out so can make no comment. The only thing that concerned
myself at the time was that I was unable to drive without a battery with
headlights!
Perhaps someone who is interested enough has the specs for an old "common"
alternator to compare with a modern one? I believe that the car concerned
was an Austin Maxi 1800cc although the precise year is now forgotten.
73 - Jeff, G4XNH @ GB7YKS
Brightraven94@Hotmail.com
Interests. Historical research, dowsing and reading.
Message timed: 20:18 on 2004-Aug-19
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