Do Alternators Change in Engine Load?

[dann_04]

"Drunk drivers will no longer be characterized by cars traveling in the dark.
[They are still rather easy to spot. Like the guy doing 30 in the 55 zone at 2am is a good bet for DWI.] "
...the guy doing 40 would be little old sober me.

Any body have any input on the generator idea? This was a post about alternator load and now it has spun off as a driving light debate. Just want to know if anyone could answer my question, it's been posted and reposted. Should i just start a new thread? Just wondering if you could take a break from the heated debate and share some knowledge, thanks!!!!

[MazdaMatt]

Its like some kind of crazy contraption that could take your unneeded momentum and energy expenditure, and store it to use it later to help the motor! (oh wait...)

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Blue07CivicEX

Just for the sake of arguement

thanks for that Blue,
so here is the dilemma:

We have a biased pro DRL page with actual and fairly recent studies indicating that more pedestrians are run over with DRLs on, 16 percent more. And a presumably less significant (and even more bizarre) stat from 30 years ago about slightly less people getting hit with two cars at once.

FYI, Worldwide, 2/3 of people killed in vehicle accidents are pedestrians. According to the AAA, http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/Saf...tureReport.pdf , 1.9 per 100,000 are pedestrians and 15.6 per 100,000 accidents are occupants.

So if the pro DRL data is to be believed then why does it seem like it is at the cost of more pedestrian lives? What the hell was going on in denmark in 1993? I absolutely do not like the idea of mowing down more cageless folks and cannot think of a conclusive reason why DRLs shouldn't be safer, but WTF?

I think we've settled on the 500 million gallons of gas annually figure for running all those DRLs.

[Formula413]

I'm going to ignore the life and death/flamewar tangent and try to touch on the original topic.

I have an amplifier in my car driving a sub box. The amp is always running when the key is in the acces. or on position whether the stereo is on or not. I know this because I hear the little cooling fan whirring. What I'm wondering is, is the amp drawing a significant amount of power in this state, while it is powered on but not actually amplifying an audio signal? It would not be hard to make a switch to turn it off completely, there is a small wire tapped into the ignition switch that sends +12V to the amp to let it know to turn on. Any thoughts?

[dcb]

Best way to know is to measure it. Just like the kill-a-watt tells you what appliences in your house are "leaking" electricity when they are "off", a $10 digital multimeter that can measure up to 10 amps can probably give you a definitive answer as to what your particular piece of equipment is doing.

[dann_04]

Originally Posted by Formula413

I'm going to ignore the life and death/flamewar tangent and try to touch on the original topic.

I have an amplifier in my car driving a sub box. The amp is always running when the key is in the acces. or on position whether the stereo is on or not. I know this because I hear the little cooling fan whirring. What I'm wondering is, is the amp drawing a significant amount of power in this state, while it is powered on but not actually amplifying an audio signal? It would not be hard to make a switch to turn it off completely, there is a small wire tapped into the ignition switch that sends +12V to the amp to let it know to turn on. Any thoughts?

The 12v remote on wire on your amp should be wired to the remote on lead on your head unit(it's normally blue) This way it will only get the signal to turn on the amp when the radio is on. It also allows you to put a switch in that line allowing you to easily turn on and off your sub for when you go by cops or just don't want the sub on but want to listen to music still(certain songs sound better without it and sometimes the mother in law doesn't appreciate a woofer lol).

[Formula413]

Originally Posted by dcb

Best way to know is to measure it. Just like the kill-a-watt tells you what appliences in your house are "leaking" electricity when they are "off", a $10 digital multimeter that can measure up to 10 amps can probably give you a definitive answer as to what your particular piece of equipment is doing.

Yeah, I'll hafta do that. My multimeter is good to 10 amps. I wouldn't "think" there is much draw, since the capacitors inside the amp that store power are not being tapped, but only one way to know for sure.

[Formula413]

Originally Posted by dann_04

The 12v remote on wire on your amp should be wired to the remote on lead on your head unit(it's normally blue) This way it will only get the signal to turn on the amp when the radio is on. It also allows you to put a switch in that line allowing you to easily turn on and off your sub for when you go by cops or just don't want the sub on but want to listen to music still(certain songs sound better without it and sometimes the mother in law doesn't appreciate a woofer lol).

So you are saying that there should be a wire coming from the head unit that is only energized when I actually turn the head unit on? I didn't think there was such a thing. This is a factory head unit, maybe only aftermarket units have such a wire?

[Formula413]

Does the capacitor noticeably improve the sound?

[bryn]

Originally Posted by BlackDeuceCoupe

Well...

Generators are still being used in some applications - for instance - a buddy of mines' Yamaha crotch rocket. Matter of fact, it left him standed one night - the brushes wore out in the middle of a ride, and his battery went flat. That's how HE found out his bike had a generator, NOT an alternator. Weird!

The good n' bad thing about generators (and ignition magnetos, for that matter) is:

• Good - the faster they turn, the more current they generate.
• Bad - the slower they turn, the less current they produce.

A generator is just an electric motor in reverse, sooo...

I suppose, in theory, you could retro-fit a generator with some sort of electronic switching mechanism and actually use stored battery power to augment gas mileage by using your generator as an electric motor - for instance, to power your water pump, power steering pump, and so forth, and so on...

my motorcycle had a starter/generator combo. alternators are more effecient because they are easy to change field strength, so less engine load when you don't need power, i think on the bike the load dosn't change much, the headlight is always on, and there are no wipers, vents, or stereo.
also a combo starter/gen will save weight, more important on a crotch rocket.

if you are concerned about it just go beltless or add a electric cut off switch. you can always recharge overnight