Of drills, woods, bears, and PIV...

David Lesher · 2009-05-08T17:41:42+00:00

So Click & Clack's Puzzler this week was"given a dead battery, 120vac generator, and an electric drill; how doyou get out of the woods before the bears get you..?"I'm sure the Tappet Brothers answer involves spinning the alternator withthe drill. That's possible but slow; the average drill does not put outall that many kilowatts.Other discussions in touched on disassembling thealternator for its diodes. But someone pointed out you do not need todisassemble the alternator at all.Instead:1) Disconnect the alternator output lead from car harness..2) Put the following in series:Alternator output to Generator AC out [N]Generator AC out [L] to Battery Positive term[With battery ground->alternator frame completing loop]3) Fiddle with generator throttle to get idle speed, ergo lessvoltage. Start...One of my concerns is the PIV rating of the alternator diodes. Anycomments on a) what kind of ratings alternator diodes will have b) whatthey should have in this misapplication....-- A host is a host from coast to & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUXUnless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

May 08, 2009 40 Replies

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qrus19 17 years ago

It's got hydrolic assist braking, wheighs in at just under 10000 lbs and is not permitted to carry more than 14 people so by the DOT regs it is a private vehicle. Don't like em but thems the rules of the government nannies.

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