ALTENATOR OUT SIDE THE CAR?

Insufficient data. The best guess is that you have an alternator that requires an external voltage regulator. The big wire is positive , negative (or ground) is the alternator case itself. The alternator and the regulator must share a common ground, the regulator can be wired a couple of ways if you can supply the application the alternator is out that would be helpful. Barring additional information I do not want to be involved in a conspiracy to smoke a alternator.

If you send the information on what the alternator came out of, I will tell you how to make it work outside the car.

I'm sorry I dont know what the altenator came out of, but my goal would be to hook it to a bicycle and get it to charge a battery, just as if it were in a car, it looks like a newer altenator so I would think it has a voltage reg. I just dont fully understand how the wiring or how the power hooks to it, I know that it needs some current to make it start working, but once it has started it should continue to supply enough power to run the automobiles electrical system, I sorry if I confuse anyone with my laymans termanology but thanks for your help.

GM, Ford, Chrysler, Leese-Neville, Neihoff, and Motorola all make many styles of alternators. And that is only the American manufacturers. What is the name on the alternator? What numbers are on the alternator? How many terminals are on the alternator, and what is written next to the terminals?

I hope you are feeling fit! A typical small car alternator has an output of approx 40A @ 14V = 560W = 0.75hp. Nobody can produce a sustained output of this level. If you regulate it back to a lower output you will be carrying around excessive dead weight.

Why would you WANT to put the alternator outside of the car?

Dear Friend, You can do it. It depends on the make. I have seen Lucas TVS alternators 110V3phase. out put of this alternators rectified on 3 phase bridge rectifier and then DC regulated to charge battery and power others like lamps, horn etc. You can hookup but frequency & voltage will be changing rapidly.

some idea about single phase alternator LINK: http://www.alternatorparts.com/understanding_alternators.htm

good luck..

Go spend the $10.00 on a manual for that vechile .

I like......

excessive....

punctuation!!!!!

I'm sure many of us realize that this won't be an efficient utilization of the alternator, and that it simply might not work at all. No need for everyone to jump on the "What!? are you stupid!?" bandwagon though.

Regardless of what you think of it or how efficient it may or may not be does not mean they will learn something in their exercise.

Giving a simple expaination would be of much more benefit then critical posts.

Good answer!

I do not think your answer is "off-topic". This guy has a spare alternator and wants to tinker with it.

Yes, to get rated power out of it he will need more horsepower than a normal mortal can muster. That in itself is a learning experience. Maybe, for his experimentation, he can get by with less than rated power. At any rate, he has been warned of the effort involved.

I hope someone can steer him in the right direction for connecting and getting some current from the alternator.

Hello Andy: hate to disagree with you, however I've actually seen a article where someone had built a similar device for his teenage children. If they wanted to watch a small television they had exercised by riding a stationary bicycle turning an alternator to charge the battery,that powered the inverter to power the TV. A bit Rube Goldberg but he said they watched less TV and did more homework.

I agree with you, the Terminator would would have a problem supplying large amounts of power. If I had a dead battery in my car and I was a couple of miles from town I would probably push the car to town rather than attempt to recharge the battery with the above mentioned device.

http://www.scienceshareware.com/bicycle-generator-faq.htm

Possibly you got a different meaning from his posts than I did, as you know I've been wrong before.

What I was trying to imply was that - "using a car alternator will not work for him".

BUT, another smaller DC generator with permanent magnets, could be a fully viable proposition.......most pushbikes have one fitted as standard, so just add a few more in parallel......

Hello Andy: I had read his number three post a couple of days ago . Unfortunately I did not read it all the way to the bottom line. Both Bob C and myself had requested additional information on the type of alternator. So I stand corrected, and now thoroughly confused because after reading the number three post to the bottom I have no idea of what he wants to do.

PS. After careful reflection, and lacking my crystal ball (it is in the shop for repair) yours definitely appears to be the best answer. I will attempt to make up for my indiscretion of not thoroughly reading his post by awarding a BP.

No problem Sir!!

Do you think that everyone has the same IQ or intalect well maybe thats why I didnt go futher in detail, maybe I'm new to putting words onto paper. Don't forget, not everyone is as smart as you, if a down syndrom person asked you a ? would you critacize him for being that way? So the anwser to your ? is, I didnt know how to say it.

Even if putting words on paper are difficult for you, We have tried to help you within the framework you have provided. If you had replied stating the alternator had specific markings, or a name, or the vehicle it came from, we would have given you information on how to make the alternator function off the car. Lacking that we are al stabbing in the dark.

Try this take a 10 gauge wire and run from battery positive to the insulated stud on the back of the alternator. Now run a 14 gauge wire from the battery through a toggle switch to the field connection on the back of the alt. Finish with a ground cable from the frame of the alt. to the battery negative. This will allow the alternator to charge when turned at sufficient speed.

UNLESS you are using a different alternator than the one I am thinking of. Good luck.

Signon with a proper name as a CR4 member, then I will answer you. Till then, byee.

I know nothing about electrical engineering, but I think you guys are missing the point of the question. I do not believe he wants to power his car with the alternator. He wants to store the energy from (possbily a stationary) bicycle to a battery and then use the battery to power other items.

Correct me if I am wrong CurtisC.

I suspect you may be completely correct, but playing guessing games due to a lack of accurate information helps no one.....

If you are correct, I suspect that my answer that I gave previously will let him know that it is totally impractical!

I would be glad to send the OP a diagram so that he could wire his alternator up and find his own results. But so far we still do not know who made the alternator. How can a person ask for help, and expect the answers to have any value. When we are told more, we can help more. A small alternator from a smaller powered car, or outboard motor might be workable to maintain a battery bank for an inverter setup. A 350 amp alternator will need the entire Olympic bike team to make work. More info please.

curtisC@jriindustries

you really need to gspecify the alternator.......................

To see a photo of this being done with a general discussion of how to do it, goto http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_6/chpt_4/8.html

If your alternator has a built in regulator, it probably has a connector and a stud.

Connector: 12vdc is applied to excite the field windings (which are on the rotor). The number of pins on the connector varies as the diagnostic sophistication built into alternators vary. For your purpose, you may need to only connect one pin to +12V. You may also need to make a connection to battery common. Which pin is which depends upon the model. Because these terminals power the solid state regulator circuit internal to the alternator, polarity is important. Guessing wrong could destroy the regulator. In an automobile, voltage is applied and removed to the alternator by the ignition switch. Voltage is removed so that the alternator will not discharge the battery.

STUD Terminal: This is the output terminal. Connections to the battery are made from the alternator case (usually negative) and this stud terminal (usually positive). The stud does not have to be disconnected from the battery to prevent battery discharge as internal to the alternator the connection is directly to output of a six diode bridge rectifier which only allows the alternator to source current.

Good luck with your project.

You ask, "...how can you hook up a car altenator to work out side the car, where do the wires go, positive and neg. there is one big wire, 2 smaller wires... ." I have rebuilt dozens of alternators, and I have found what I believe to be the best reference book for the layman, as an aid in understanding Alternator wiring. It is entitled, "12-VOLT DOCTOR'S ALTERNATOR BOOK, and can be purchased at:

http://www.paracay.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SPA001&Category_Code=ELC

As others have noted, the big stud is hooked up to +12 VDC, and the alternator's metallic case is hooked up to -12 VDC, generally with #10 wire. For a "ONE Wire" alternator, that is it. But you mention at least two more smaller wire connections. This gets tricky. Generally, these two connections are used to either to control the voltage output, via a regulator, or in some cases, one connection may go to an indicator (or "Idiot" = not charging) light. Here is where you need the book, which describes dozens of connections for various manufacturers.

I didn't read everything; but is it a stationary bike you want to drive the alternator with? Maybe and exercise machine of some kind...while you toast your pop tarts for breakfast? ...I mean lunch? ....maybe supper?