<VV> Gens and Alts

[lonwall@corvairunderground.com]

Bob - You're not as crazy as you come across in person - I too have only 
earlies (right now) and they are all converted to alternators. The 
weight issue is a good reason but more compelling is the basic theory of 
charging philosophies between a generator and an alternator.

When a generator suffers from a "break" in it's charging circuit it 
shortly burns itself up. That problem can be a battery with a defective 
plate, an overtaxing of the system itself, a broken or disconnected 
wire, a malfunctioning regulator etc etc.

When similar things happen to an alternator is just cycles (stops 
charging) so no damage is done.

I suffer a similar fate as you did. Around 1991 I was in a caravan in my 
still generator equipped Greenbriar headed down to the Fan Belt Toss 
(Palm Springs). I told my passenger (and friend) Gary Baldwin that the 
only thing I feared on the trip was losing the generator.  Sure enough 
it was about 11 pm (In November) just out of Grants Pass and the 
generator light came on.

We had a crew with us and had to rebuild the generator by the side of 
the road. It was NOT fun. I didn't have a choice.  With an alternator i 
could have kept going until at least it was convenient. With the 
generator is was SHUT DOWN NOW or burn up the armature.

Did I mention that my alternators and conversion kits are on special 
this month?

Lon
www.corvairunderground.com


On 4/10/2012 1:56 PM, Vairtec Corporation wrote:
> On 4/10/2012 3:30 PM, Smitty wrote:
>
> [ A rant.  Amusing, entertaining, and informative as all his posts are.
> But a rant nonetheless.]
>
> Smitty, I will confess to being one of those persons who, owning only
> 1st generation Corvairs, converts all of them to alternators.  I do this
> not due to any unusually high electricity needs, but simply because they
> weigh less than generators.  I like taking weight off the tail of a Corvair.
>
> But it is possible that my desire to make this conversion to all my
> Corvairs is inspired also by the one-and-only generator failure I
> suffered, many years ago, on a dark cold night, which put me out of the
> car and onto my feet.  Not saying that an an alternator won't make me
> walk someday, but so far, so good.
>
> --Bob
>
>
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