> I may be confused on this thread. My alternator's output is wired to
> the positive battery terminal. When I flip the kill switch, the battery
> and alternator are still connected, but they're isolated from the rest
> of the system. If the alternator is still spinning, then it will still
> be happily charging the battery.
That should work fine, with the exception that the wire to the alternator is
always hot. If you've been in a wreck that shorted that wire, opening the
kill switch won't let the fire go out.
> Even if they weren't connected,
> wouldn't the voltage regulator handle it?
There's been lots of debate on this topic ... the answer is that it probably
should. But it takes time for the regulator to respond, and time for the
magnetic field in the rotor to decay ... you can potentially get quite a
nasty spike in the intervening nanoseconds. If the spike is enough to short
the regulator ...
Anyone remember those old kits to get 110vdc from an alternator ? All they
did was switch to a 110v regulator, the rest of the alternator was
unchanged.
Randall
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