I can tell you with all the certainty of someone who tried this in a science museum once, that if you have a generator driven by a bicycle, and you flip on a hair dryer plugged in to said generator, it becomes VERY hard to pedal. I would expect something similar in an alternator, but they didn't have one of those at the museum so I don't know. :) Actually I guess it could have been an alternator in the museum. I was using "generator", above, in the sense of "that which generates electricity from spinning something" sense, not in the "I actually know that an alternator is a magnetic field spinning by static wires and a generator is the other way around and I didn't just learn that on http://www.differencebetween.net/" sense. mike On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 2:25 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote: > On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 11:30 AM, Daryl Christensen > <daryl@aatransaxle.com>wrote: > > > Often the load from cranking the engine will make the belt squeal for a > bit > > if the belt is a tad loose. > > Till the alt gets some charge going and reduces the alt load then its > > peachy. > > > > Daryl of AA Transaxle > > 425-788-4070 > > "On the cutting edge of Old technology" > > 86 Syncro Westy w/Turbo Zetec in the trunk > > > > > > So (thanks, BTW Daryl) am I correct in supposing that the load on the > belt, the mechanical load it must rotate, is higher when the current draw > demands more electricity from the alternator? I have only a vague idea of > how an alternator functions. > > When the battery or the operating engine "wants" a large load, either to > re-charge after a prolonged cranking start, or when you have every > electrical widget running in the vehicle, is that alternator 'harder to > turn'? If so, then it sort of makes sense the belt might slip a little, > then 'get a grip' as the load at the pulley diminished. > > Don Hanson > |
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