[Healeys] Electrical Question

Richard Ewald richard.ewald at gmail.com
Mon Apr 5 13:47:03 MDT 2010


This is backwards and incorrect.
A car will run with a generator and a bad / no battery.  The old shade  
tree method to test a generator was to disconnect the battery out of  
the system to see if the car still ran, if it did the generator was  
good. (DO NOT DO THIS WITH AN ALTERNATOR EQUIPPED CAR!) I once had a  
battery stolen out of a generator equipped car, so I jumped the car  
and drove it to Sears for a new battery.  The look on the Sears guy's  
face was priceless.
Alternators on the other hand have to have power in the circuit to  
excite them. That means there has to be voltage to excite them.
No battery = no excitation
Rick


Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 5, 2010, at 10:33, I Erbs <eyera3 at gmail.com> wrote:

> A car will continue to run on an alternator with a bad battery, but  
> not a
> generator. If you use a fully charged battery, with a bad charging  
> system
> (generator/voltage regulator) it will run untill the battery  
> depletes. If
> battery is dead and other components good, it will no trun, because  
> battery
> will not holsd a charge
>
> On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 9:35 PM, PG <britishcars at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> The car starts on jumpers from another vehicle..but, as soon as the  
>> jumpers
>> are taken away, the car dies...
>>
>>
>>
>> Even if the battery is bad, should the car not run on the generator?
>> Unless
>> of course, it is bad.   It reads about 12 volts but vascilates  
>> sometimes
>> down to 4 or 5 volts then back up again...rapidly.   The Battery is  
>> old and
>> is likely finished.  However, should the car not run regardless?
>>
>>
>>
>> Paul
>> _______________________________________________
>> Healeys at autox.team.net
>> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
>> Suggested annual donation  $12.75
>> Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
>> Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
>> Unsubscribe/Manage <http://www.team.net/forums%0AUnsubscribe/Manage>:
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/eyera3@gmail.com
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> I Erbs
> Portland, OR
>  _______                                  _______
>    (______ \____1960 BT7____/ _______)
>        (_________________________)
> _______________________________________________
> Healeys at autox.team.net
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation  $12.75
> Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
> Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/richard.ewald@gmail.com


More information about the Healeys mailing list