I certainly could be wrong, it's a long time since I've physically looked at
this, and then it was a motorcycle.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Herrera [mailto:jrherrera90@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 7:48 AM
To: Bill Babcock
Subject: RE: [FOT] alternators
>Actually, you don't get nice sine waves--the regulator lops off the top
>of the sine waves which would otherwise rise to 40-100 volts in a
>lightly loaded circuit.
Maybe we're talking about two different things here. I thought all the
regulator did was vary the field current to the rotor in order to keep the
output voltage constant as the alternator load or RPM changes. Didn't know
it did any lopping.
All voltage induced by rotation is a sine wave. The six-diode rectifier in
the alternator makes this into DC with a slight ripple from the tops of the
sine waves. I have put a 'scope on the output of an alternator and I assure
you, the ripple wave wasn't square.
The output from the regulator to the rotor might be a square wave as the
regulator current changes.
Maybe some regulators work differently?
John
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