Hi again,
Chris:
The car alternators are limited by their current rating right?
So the current is limited, understand now?
I've read that the highest current for a LA battery is C/4, but
i do mine at much less than that to be safe. I dont want the
battery to heat at all, which changes the characteristics i dont
want to change while im charging it.
Battery Charged Indicator........
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Chris Smith
- Posts: 4325
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Bieber Ca.
Al..... A car system is much like two buckets of water and a ½ hose. This diameter and distance all become self regulatory. The whole system is in balance so any excess is minimized.
The 14.7 volts carries the appropriate current based on the empty well called the battery.
Water and electricity have some similarities for simplistic purposes.
But,..if you take two buckets of water and place one bucket high up on a hill with a 500 foot long 1 inch hose, the system will empty one into the other bucket real fast under "great pressure" and heat. [Higher Amperage]
A greater pressure and flow will occur naturally.
[Balance, Impedance, Resistance]
Now...If you take several thousand feet of one inch hose, and dip all of the hose below the two buckets [all those feet] raising just one bucket above the other to start a flow, then when it does flow to equilibrium, the two buckets will also equal out and stop almost normally,.....?
[even after the drop and raise]
BUT the pressure in the hose going down several thousand feet and back up all this way will increase the pressure in the hose at the bottom almost to a bursting point? [high amps]
Like a flywheel, once started the momentum of the flow will over carry the energy of the water in speed [weight/ distance down] possibly causing heat in the transfer and a bursting hose?
[One atmosphere per 33 feet of drop.]
Chargers have a different impedance and voltage rating than a car to achieve their tricks which is why they use timers etc to regulate this overall flow.
The 14.7 volts carries the appropriate current based on the empty well called the battery.
Water and electricity have some similarities for simplistic purposes.
But,..if you take two buckets of water and place one bucket high up on a hill with a 500 foot long 1 inch hose, the system will empty one into the other bucket real fast under "great pressure" and heat. [Higher Amperage]
A greater pressure and flow will occur naturally.
[Balance, Impedance, Resistance]
Now...If you take several thousand feet of one inch hose, and dip all of the hose below the two buckets [all those feet] raising just one bucket above the other to start a flow, then when it does flow to equilibrium, the two buckets will also equal out and stop almost normally,.....?
[even after the drop and raise]
BUT the pressure in the hose going down several thousand feet and back up all this way will increase the pressure in the hose at the bottom almost to a bursting point? [high amps]
Like a flywheel, once started the momentum of the flow will over carry the energy of the water in speed [weight/ distance down] possibly causing heat in the transfer and a bursting hose?
[One atmosphere per 33 feet of drop.]
Chargers have a different impedance and voltage rating than a car to achieve their tricks which is why they use timers etc to regulate this overall flow.
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Chris Smith
- Posts: 4325
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Bieber Ca.
Al
The current is self limited by the voltage, so like Dyrker says yes you can up the current but at a price to the system, the battery and or the alternator. A higher voltage will increase the current flow and will over heat the whole system and definitely take out the battery as well as the alternator because it will work harder than its design.
Think of the alternator as a package deal, its designed to put out X + Y as a whole deal. [and lose the right amount of heat]
As long as you don’t rock this boat, everything and every one is happy.
But if you ask for more current, the overall time or life span of the remaining objects will be shortened because you dont want to keep the balance of X and Y. There is always a trade off.
If you push one, the other is affected, and in this case time and heat would be the opposite or your negative.
In theory a short burst may not blow the whole deal but your robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The current is self limited by the voltage, so like Dyrker says yes you can up the current but at a price to the system, the battery and or the alternator. A higher voltage will increase the current flow and will over heat the whole system and definitely take out the battery as well as the alternator because it will work harder than its design.
Think of the alternator as a package deal, its designed to put out X + Y as a whole deal. [and lose the right amount of heat]
As long as you don’t rock this boat, everything and every one is happy.
But if you ask for more current, the overall time or life span of the remaining objects will be shortened because you dont want to keep the balance of X and Y. There is always a trade off.
If you push one, the other is affected, and in this case time and heat would be the opposite or your negative.
In theory a short burst may not blow the whole deal but your robbing Peter to pay Paul.
-
Chris Smith
- Posts: 4325
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Bieber Ca.
The reason for the different rated alternators is simple, the rest of our demanding system.
Ever car or racing vehicle is different.
My truck had two 55 amp alternators, two batteries, and two separate systems including several million candle power worth of Ciebe Super Oscar flood lights and a complete camping system.
When the alt and battery are busy doing their thing in harmony, WE come along and poke a large hole in the pipe feeding the battery, then rob all the extra power away from the battery.
The battery does act as a large cap though. [balanced]
We have AC systems, lighting systems, heating systems, power systems all balanced to run at the alternators maximum voltage, operate, and still not steal what the battery needs.
So if the battery is very low, it gets it charge, if the halogen lights on the roof need 15 more amps, they too are fed, the windows do a heavy in rush for a minute and still work, the AC is on full and it works just fine. [etc]
However regardless of any and all draw, the battery is topped up like the gas tank, receives no more than a trickle charge and all the accessories that keep demanding a further draw from the alternator get it just fine, run as intended, and hardly effect the battery except for the immediate transient push or pull in the circuit, acting like a simple regulator, buffer, tank, and all the other things any capacitor can do on its own.
Ever car or racing vehicle is different.
My truck had two 55 amp alternators, two batteries, and two separate systems including several million candle power worth of Ciebe Super Oscar flood lights and a complete camping system.
When the alt and battery are busy doing their thing in harmony, WE come along and poke a large hole in the pipe feeding the battery, then rob all the extra power away from the battery.
The battery does act as a large cap though. [balanced]
We have AC systems, lighting systems, heating systems, power systems all balanced to run at the alternators maximum voltage, operate, and still not steal what the battery needs.
So if the battery is very low, it gets it charge, if the halogen lights on the roof need 15 more amps, they too are fed, the windows do a heavy in rush for a minute and still work, the AC is on full and it works just fine. [etc]
However regardless of any and all draw, the battery is topped up like the gas tank, receives no more than a trickle charge and all the accessories that keep demanding a further draw from the alternator get it just fine, run as intended, and hardly effect the battery except for the immediate transient push or pull in the circuit, acting like a simple regulator, buffer, tank, and all the other things any capacitor can do on its own.
-
Chris Smith
- Posts: 4325
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Bieber Ca.
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