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On Wed, 2005-03-23 at 22:42, Jim Adney wrote: > 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. My wifes new car has a 120 amp alternator. That is 1500 watts. -- Russ Wolfe '71 FB AT '66 FB MT '64 T34 (not running) '65 T1 (not running) '05 KIA Sorento SUV russw@classicvw.org http://www.classicvw.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~