Zetec alternator question
Anyone ever seen an alternator put out 15 volts?
(EDIT: sorry, probably should have said I see 15 volts on the recorded data.)
We ran the car about 80 miles the other day over several sessions, and voltage crept up from 13 to 15.1 over the course of the day, with the last five laps never under 14.9.
Now of course I can't replicate it in the shop to troubleshoot, shows the 'expected' 13.3v
Thoughts? thx
Overheating the voltage regulator
That is also an issue with the Kubota dynamo regulator if it's revved too high. It will burn up its stand-alone regulator if it spends much time above 4200 dynamo RPM or in an excessively hot environment.
Link to post on that subject:
http://www.apexspeed.com/forums/show...7&postcount=29
One could infer from this that over-revving a standard alternator could do the same thing, so limiting its maximum RPM might eliminate the issue similar to what I did with the Kubota dynamo.
It would also eliminate generating unnecessary heat and thus save a tiny bit of HP.
Something to think about...
Probably not significant, but...
Having the alternator/regulator generate excessive heat when it could be avoided is wasting HP.