Pretty much, all car and truck alternators will output a higher voltage than 12.7v at idle. My Caprice charges at darn near 15v no matter what the RPMs are, the truck at 14v. Just to clarify, it's the stator/generator/alternator in a vehicle that charges the battery.
Stator winding is a very interesting thing. Most modern ones are wound in a delta configuration which outputs 3 phase. This allows higher amperage output, but lower voltage. The XR stator comes from the factory with 2 of 10 poles wound. The assumption is, that each pole generates 6v, and winding poles in series adds the voltage, with wire gauge as a big factor for amperage. This leads to a huge "wind your own" discussion of how to do it which way to achieve what output at what voltage and what wattage...etc. Most just wind the thing with one big piece of wire and let the regulator deal with clipping the voltage. Mike 98 XR400 96 VFR 76 CB400F > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 11:03 AM > To: Multiple recipients of list > Subject: NO SOHC - auto science question > > > > > Hey guys, > My science colleagues are discussing this morning over coffee whether a > car battery can recharge at idle (especially with this cold weather in > Boston) or is it like the SOHC battery that has to get above 3000rpm to > recharge the battery. Any thoughts on this? (sorry for the non-SOHC aspect > but I thought someone one this list might know the answer!). > Cheers > Andy in rather chilly Boston. > > > _______________________________________________ > Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com > The most personalized portal on the Web!
