Re: Generator to Alternator Conversion

Posted by BH On 2008/2/17 14:54:20

I was taught that the battery is there only to start the vehicle (though it also provides power for emergency situations), but the generator is there to operate the vehicle's electrcial systems once the vehicle is running. Then, any surplus ouput from the generator is used to replenish the battery, which shouldn't take much in a vehicle in proper operating condition. I think the whole CCA thing is highly over-rated EXCEPT for gagdet-laden late-model vehicles.

After I acquired my first '56 Patrician, back in 1987, I installed Group 60 Allstate battery, and did nothing to the generator. A couple of years later, I drove that car to a cruise-in about 20 minutes away one summer evening. Though it was still light out, I liked to run with the headlights on, but I must have forgotten to turn them off when I parked and went in to eat. When I came back, some guy in the parking lot sneered and said, "hey buddy, looks like ya left yer lights on - tough luck". He was probably waiting for me to ask for a jump-start, but I sneered right back at him and said "don't worry - it'll start" - and it did. Also, I used to leave the Pat parked in the driveway at home during summer months. On more than on occassion, I had to use the Packard to jump start one of my late-model daily drivers.

Alas, that Allstate battery bit the dust after 10 years and was NLA from Sears, but I never got more more than 2-3 years out of any other brand of Group 60. Mebbee the problem isn't so much generators, voltage, or ground as it is the quality of today's batteries.