On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:13:54 -0400, wrote:

Even a car with an alternator needs some little bit of battery power
to get going. The alternator will not put out until you excite the
field, something I found out when I built this
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/redneck_power.jpg
Hence the little Gel Cell.

It turns out that almost all alternators have a little residual
magnetism and if you just spin them fast enough they will start
generating.

If not you get double your money back. :-)