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On 23 Mar 2005 at 20:13, The Rossos wrote: > Also, if generators are so great, > why aren't they used in modern cars? Generators are limited to somewhere under 50 A, just because the brushes in a generator carry the full output current. Alternator brushes only carry the field current, which is usually something like 2-10 A. Modern cars use so much more electrical power than older cars that they just could not survive on even 50 Amps. Even now, cars will soon be moving to a 42V system just to keep the current down. We'll probably be seeing 4kW alternators in cars before long, and they'll take about 6 HP from the drive train just to power all the accessories that we insist on. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~