An alternator has an armature fed with current via slip rings to produce the magnetic field. The regulator on this system is a transistor which switches the current to the armature on and off. If the voltage rises above above 14v the the transistor will switch off the armature current and the field will collapse and so will the voltage. So the alternator will only produce power when needed.cezeta wrote:its worth checking this out as i was under the impression that a generator is rated at its potential wattage rather than what is being generated all of the time. ie if no load is present then it is not putting any load on the engine but as soon as an electrical load is applied then the engine is put under load to provide the power.......something to do with apposing magnetic fields from the coils which only exist with a load present v the magnets on the flywheel......ooh...distant memory, i could be wrong.
you can sometime hear this in your car when you flick the lights on or air con for that matter as the same applies. a mate of mine is trying the same thing, he is not a forum user so if he goes for the taffy kit i will report back. worth keeping on the back burner incase you are not happy with the outcome of what you are doing
Because a stator has permanent magnets the power will always be produced and the only way to keep the voltage stable is to dump the power not being used. So excess wattage must be used by the regulator and is why the reg has a wattage rating (the amount it can dump)
fortunatly i dont have a need for the extra wattage but if you are going to have those lamps bolted on then its worth getting them to work. i ve been caught in the swiss alps in the rain in the dark and would have loved a set of those lamps. there is led technology bulbs on the way so matbe these will help too.