A question about power?

I was having this conversation with one of you, and I want some more input if anybody has a more accurate understanding I would reaally appreciate the input, so here it is.

It was the opinion that a large audio amplifier put too much stress on the B series alternator and killed it does this sound correct, Here was my opinion.

Taken from previous conversation.

Who told you that your amp killed your alternator?
It just does'nt make sense to me.
Your alternator has a regulator , and it charges your battery safely that way. As I understand it, your alternator will oversupply if the regulator is blown and it will give you a power SURGE relative to yer RPMs.

I have had this happen while I was driving home in the dark in the winter once before.
I was driving my Mazda GLC sport, and what happened was the regulator went although I didnt know it at the time. The heater quit and my windows started icing up and my stereo was sounding funny, so I thought I was running low on power. So I shifted down and let the revs go up And turned off the stereo. Then my headlights got brighter until one popped! So I put her in neutral to let the revs down and the last light lasted until I could get her to the next town, It was 20-C and I was changing the lights in the Zellers parking lot at 12 at night, I limped it home another 45mins away. I burned out the heating system and fried all of the electric choke systems so I ended up getting a new carb and vaccuum assist system, it was horrible.

So my point is......
I could see the battery not keeping up to the load of your amp but alternators are designed to send out a charge to your battery, so I could see running the battery down all of the time, or not runnin your amp good enough, but I dont think that means the alternator works any harder than usual. Its always spinning creating current.
This is what capacitors are for, taking the overflow of power and storing it for when you are requiring more , or greater LOAD.

Think of an excavator, you run higher revs to power the hydraulics, they just work waaay slower on low revs.

Just my .02

What do you think?
Dan

I can't see an AMP directly affecting an alternator to the point of breakdown!

BUT!!

If the alternator isn't strong enough to keep the battery charged, it will overheat and burn out taking the battery with it. When the bass hits a drains the battery down a little every time, also depending on how many amps. The alternator is only a maintainer, which means it will only keep the battery charged under normal driving. If you leave the lights on and it drains the battery down more than half charge. the alternator will not charge the battery all the way. It will damage the alternator doing this also.

I AGREE, they do have capacitors (sometimes called lighting caps) for amp systems that will allow the amp to draw power from this and not the battery or alternator.

In conclusion, I do no think an AMP could directly stop the alternator form working without any prior charging system problems! I could be wrong and there are times when things happen in the other direction!

ALthough alternators are always spinning, they are ot always under full load....the voltage regulator is what regulates what is drawn from the alternator....if the battery is at full charge the alternator will only provide enough current to operate whatever is needing power at the time ( ie ignition, headlights etc.)

if the battery is low it will also charge the battery whilst it is running whatever you have on....

The alternator is not always running at 100 percent capacity, and by overdrawing on it( by trying to take more than it can produce it will die prematurely.

^ Agreed ^

cool , that seems reasonable, an extreme system with bag systems and stereos should use a bigger alternator and caps as well as as a good battery

I'm a car audio isntaller at A & B Sound... and one of my co workers has 4 clarion 12" subs 3000 w powering them.. in a 92 Honda Accord Lol. ... anyways he only ran it for a month and a half with that system before his alternator fried... he got a custom built 200 amp alternator ...so yeah, it can happen

I think midnight mike told me his compressors fried his alt before he had it rebuilt