-=> Roy J. Tellason said to Greg Mayman
 -=> about "VEHICLE LED'S" on 09-28-03  04:05.....

 RJT> The car I'm thinking of was a 1967 Plymouth Fury.  I'm pretty sure it
 RJT> had an alternator...

Hmmm... it may have.

I can't recall seeing alternators in cars manufactured before
about 1970, but my experiences were not very wide ranging.

The most recent vehicle I ever owned that had a generator was a
1968 Austin 1800 with the east-west engine. The oldest one with
an alternator was a Mazda Bongo van, about 1975 IIRC.

 RJT> Not until you mentioned it did I think about the fact that earlier
 RJT> stuff used generators.  I mean,  I knew that,  but just hadn't
 RJT> considered it at all since it's been so darn long since I've seen a
 RJT> vehicle that used one.  Sorta like six volt batteries,  I guess.  :-)

Yeah 

 RJT> Except that heavy-duty diodes were neither widely available nor cheap
 RJT> compared to coils and such back in those days.  I guess most of what
 RJT> semiconductors were out there were germanium parts.

Exactly. Germanium diodes had a lower forward drop than silicon
(still do in fact  ) but they wouldn't stand the heat under
the bonnet of a car, max junction temp was only 60 deg C.

 RJT> I've never had a problem with that sort of stuff,  so far.  We did

Some of us were lucky 

 RJT> I've occasionally seen stuff like that -- chips with the numbers
 RJT> removed,  etc.  I get *so* tired of people with the
"proprietary" crap
 RJT> ideas,  they keep trying this stuff over and over again,  and it never
 RJT> works long-term,  but they use it for whatever short-term advantage
 RJT> they can get out of it. 

Most manufacturers are only interested in building stuff well
enough to get it out of the shops and into the hands of the
consumers, and they hope that no major faults will show up during
the guarantee period.

And they seem to rely on the fact that most consumers wouldn't
even know if the stuff was working properly anyway, as long as it
doesn't have a total failure.
 
 RJT> That almost sounds actionable to me.

Well, they don't guarantee that your new car WON'T have any
recycled parts in it. And opening the sealed case would have
voided any warranty on that part anyway.

 RJT> Sometimes it's a matter of their arrangement.  We've all heard about
 RJT> some of the "agreements" that m$ has with computer
sellers,  etc.  I

Yeah :-((((

 RJT> Gotta keep people "locked in",  I guess.

It works until Joe Public wakes up that he can get stuff just as
good that can be repaired by any reasonably knowledgeable hack in
town.

 RJT> Thinking about it,  the battery is on the driver's side,  and the
 RJT> alternator isn't.  Same thing holds true for my car,  which has a
 RJT> sideways-fitted V-6 in it,  the alternator is at the rear of the engine
 RJT> compartment,  diagonally opposite the battery's position.  Not sure
 RJT> about our other car offhand. 

But often they run a VERY heavy lead to the starter motor then
join the alternator lead in there. If the alternator is on the
same side as the starter, that makes sense.

OTOH my van has the battery and the alternator on the driver's
side, but the leads join up at the starter which is on the
opposite side...

From Greg Mayman, in beautiful Adelaide, South Australia
   "Queen City of The South"    34:55 S  138:36 E

... The supply of government exceeds the demand. - Lewis Lapham
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30

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