How Alternators are "Upgraded"

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BCjohnny
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Re: How Alternators are "Upgraded"

Post by BCjohnny »

Single phase alternators went out with the arc ..... Ducellier/Paris Rhone were the last 'common' ones late seventies, early eighties, on entry level French tin. Power the field up on a bench and tell me why ...... :wink:

Wattage is rated nominally at 14v, amongst OEs.

Newold1 In the thirty years I've been dealing with it, it's gone from the utterly reliable (Bosch N1) to the fancifully ludicrous (PCM controlled), with some notable exceptions. Guess what I run ...... :D
Mattax
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Re: How Alternators are "Upgraded"

Post by Mattax »

I received an answer on another forum about why Chrysler chose ground switching for the solid state voltage regulator in 1970.
The electronic regulators were low side switched because in the early 70's NPN transistors were more reliable and cost much less than PNP, necessary for hign side switching. The old style electronic units became available in the late 80s.
Mattax wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2016 11:25 am Thank you for clearing that up. Let me add this from our conversation.
Mattax wrote:I can see that making an electromechanical regulator switch off the positive is fairly simple. Was it hard in 1970 to make a solid state equivalent?
It's interesting now that solid state replacement regulators are available for 'single' field wire systems, a number of enthusiasts still feel the need to convert to the 1970 up ground switching arrangement.
BCjohnny wrote:By 1970 no, ss regs '+ sw' regs were commonplace, but manufacturers only change parts often grudgingly. ... As said earlier 'ground switching' is overwhelmingly the most preferred OE method today, so there a economies of scale, and not having to use en application specific reg, in choosing this method. If there are problems '+ switching' a field I'm not aware of it, some manufacturers continued to use it, and alt performance is not affected.
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