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Re: [T3] DBB alternator


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I'm not going to make this argument well enough to debate with jim, but perhaps it's interesting to you all.

I was speculating that it seems like charging at idle could be a very good thing for any car that only gets driven occasionally but might get moved around a little more frequently. And therefore might be another good argument for an alternator.

from what I read on http://www.batteryfaq.org/ my understanding was that starting batteries need to be charged back up to full after every use in order to maximize battery life / reduce the chance of sulfating.

It seems like if you've got a period of time where you only take your car on very short drives in the city,
that you'll need every moment of running to get the battery charged back up to full, so the time spent warming up, and sitting at stop lights is wasted opportunity to charge the battery.


In my situation my wife and I have four cars, and I've been biking to work, and the cars get parked in a single long line in the driveway, and there's no overnight parking.
So, often I'll start one of the squares and move it into the street, and later move it back in.
I've taken to checking the batteries and when they seem a little low, I take the battery out and put it on the charger. [ and more often, I'm just trying to make up some other trip to go on just to drive them. ;) ]


Now this particular case might not be solved by an alternator because even it wouldn't have enough time to get the battery charged back up to full, but I thought it was at least a slightly different argument for an alternator.


On a second point,
Jim's point about the alternator not putting out 70amps, as a reason why it's not "cool" that it's putting out 70 amps.. I think anyone who thinks it's "cool" thinks it's cool because it could put out 70amps if it needed to.


--fess

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