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On 4 Sep 2002, at 8:03, Brian Schlepp wrote: > Isn't the stock generator 30 amps? Yes. > 55 amps would be an improvement, even though it is not an alternator. The ampere rating only means what the generator can put out if asked to. In use, it only puts out what the car demands. Thus for the vast majority of type 3 owners, both the 55A generator and the 30A generator would be putting out about 15-25A most of the time. > Would the stock regulator be able to handle the 55 amps? No, the voltage regulator includes a current cutoff which is designed to protect the generator by limiting the current draw to 30 A. I don't know where you would get a 55A VR, but Bill & Steve's must have one, or they are selling an item that is really a waste of money. > I was just thinking that the whole goal was to get a little more electron flow > in the system. As long as it does not increase the flow of smoke ;) Keeping the Magic Smoke inside is always a worthy goal. ;-) The bigger generator/alternator won't give you any more electron flow at all, unless you have been running up against the VR's 30A current limit. In general, I'd worry about getting 55A from a generator. The big limitation of generators is the fact that the brushes have to carry the full output current. Larger output currents mean bigger brushes, but I suspect that these rebuilt generators have just been wound with bigger wire, which is only half a solution. > By the way, has anybody had any problems with the new Bosch brushless > starters? Brushless starters? Really? How do they do this? DC motors all have brushes. The only way around this is to convert the DC to AC and then use an AC motor, which can be brushless. This works nicely for little motors like the so-called Brushless-DC computer fan motors, where the power is minimal and the electronics to do the DC-AC can be small and cheap, but a starter motor carries major current. This could certainly be done, but the electronics alone would cost more than $150. Maybe this becomes more feasible in the new 42V auto electrical systems, where the voltage is up by a factor of 3 and the current is down by the same factor. Anybody out there thinking of "upgrading" their type 3 to a 42V system? ;-) - Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <type3-off@vwtype3.org> For more help, see http://vwtype3.org/list/