<VV> Gens and Alts

[Smitty]

Smitty Says;  Too many of the people who "Did it"  So it must be good".  As you have heard me mumble, I started driving about 1946-47 in cars that were not classic examples of maintenance perfection.  Hell they didn't even have brakes on them half the time.  So if there was something up front making electricity for the battery I didn't question it.  Not only didn't question it but as long as it kept making electricity I didn't do any maintenance on it either.My first alternator equipped car was a 68 Chevy.  All of them prior to that had generators.  Whether I was going to the store or cross country to the other coast I never worried about the generator.  One of the two times I actually did have one fail, the brushes wore out.  I bent the brush tension tangs on the brush holders and finished that trip.  The other time The commutator exploded at about 6,000 engine rpm (maybe 12,000 generator rpm.  I loosened up the idler and drove very slowly, letting the belt slip,  (The armature was bent) to where I could get a replacement.  So that was two failures out of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles.  Every time someone mentions wanting to change to an alternator the nut cases start running off about how wonderful alternators are.  Why don't they ask, what's wrong with your generator.  They are easy to fix you know.  Instead they say,"I put one of those solid gold fail proof alternators on my car and haven't had a minutes problem with it".   Hell no you haven't had a problem.  If you had put a new generator on you likely wouldn't have had a problem either.  Don't you ever read what you write??   Sure, I know there are some with modified Corvairs with 500 watt sound systems and 8 "off road" halogen headlights, that like to operate their AC and heater at the same time.  Most of us are more normal.  We don't need alternators to supply enough juice to keep our batteries charged.  It's not enough that our lives are incomplete if we don't have an alternator but we must also have the type two with internal regulation.  What is so great about that?  Like I said, I have had factory equipped alternator cars since 68 and have had one (count it) one, regulator failure.  I have a type two on Spike because I had one laying on the floor when I built the car.  I have replaced it twice in 8 years for regulator failure and the regulator is AFU now.  I must disconnect the battery when not using the car to keep the regulator from draining it.  So spare me all the crap about how important it is to have an internal regulated alternator.
The above rant brought to you courtesy of time spent waiting for parts to come from a vendor to get Spike back on the road.  I do have an alternator on my wagon but you should understand that car has more things using electricity than the law allows.  It ain't for looks.  I take my foot off the throttle when I am charging the car battery and the camper battery at the same time, and the battery cable looks like a fresh fed python when it sucks the battery up inside.