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On 22 Mar 2005 at 2:26, David V.N. wrote: > Well,it's in.I finally installed a 70 amp alternator kit from > the DBB.Fast,easy and,as an added bonus,it works! It's not that I enjoying raining on other people's parades, but I it's only fair to point out a few things about the whole concept of an alternator conversion. The main thing to understand is that while alternators ARE really cool and interesting things, there is absolutely no advantage to them for the vast majority of owners. The generator system works well and provides more than enough charging for most people. It's also fairly bulletproof and simple. With reasonable care the generator will outlast the car, although you may have to replace the voltage regulator and brushes every 7-12 years. Let me address the reasons that people give for doing the conversions, and answer them: 1) I compete in rolling boom box competitions and my battery goes dead in the middle. My generator can't keep up when my car is just idling. While such events are certainly not my idea of a good time, they would be just about the only reason that an alternator would have an advantage over a generator. This is simply due to the fact that, at idle, an alternator will generate some current (certainly not its full rating) while a generator will put out little or nothing. 2) My battery wouldn't stay charged because the generator charging system wasn't working right, so I just replaced it with something brand new. The only problem with this approach is that the alternator is a more complicated (and expensive) system than the generator. When you have trouble with IT, you'll have even less chance of figuring it out yourself. I guess that would be a good time to replace everything again, perhaps with the old generator, which we hoped you saved. ;-) 3) I like the idea of a system that puts out 70 Amps. It just makes me feel more secure knowing that I have all that power flowing out of my new charging system. A 70 Amp alternator puts out 70 Amps ONLY when that much is needed. Most of the time a perfectly functioning alternator conversion will be putting out only about 10 Amps; the same as a generator would have. What happened to the rest? Well, it will come when the demand is there, which is almost never, but when the car only needs 10 Amps, that's all the charging system, any charging system, will deliver. Now I'm sure there are several of you out there who are just sure that your excess electrical loads need extra power, but I wonder if any of you have actually measured your charging system output under a variety of circumstances. If you did, I think you'd be surprised at how low it was. Short spikes of current draw have to be time averaged when you consider this; that's one of the reasons we have a battery. Keith Park probably had more electrical gagetry on his squareback than most of us can imagine, and he uses them constantly. He just has the stock generator system and drives cross country with no problems. My generators are all the originals. I don't think I've ever had one go bad on me, although I do replace brushes and VRs every decade of daily driving, or so.... 4) I like to play the radio really, really loud. Go ahead. Be assured that most of the rest of us aren't overly impressed by this, so you might as well do it with the windows rolled up. A few years of 20 Watts in an enclosed space will assure you of hearing aids by age 40. OTOH, that amount of power is something that the stock battery can put out for more than 20 hours without draining it, so the generator/alternator argument doesn't really come into play. 5) I like the cool factor of being able to say that I've got this really modern upgrade. Well, I guess that's a matter of taste, but if you really want to spend money on bragging rights, why not get something that brings an actual advantage with it. For the same money you could get a counterweighted crank, or a full flow oil filter system AND case savers, or a good 4 angle valve job. Each of these comes with proven benefits. OTOH, if all you're into is appearances, I've got rub-on decals of my signature. One of these on your dash will instantly signal to the Type 3 "In Crowd" that your car is one of the elite. These are extremely limited production items, but I'll sell them for the same price as the alternator kits, and throw in a Salad Shooter, and a Popeil Pocket Fisherman, for free! Signatures come in your choice of black, yellow, or red.* (*This offer subject to revision at any time.) ;-) -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~