"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote:

Years ago there was someone offering a modification for a normal
auto
alternator. Essentially to remove the diodes and use it as an A.C.
alternator.

Leece-Neville alternators had the AC terminations on the rear housing
as standard.

Also offered a firewall mounted transformer to provide 120VAC from the
alternator; however, since alternator output is frequency sensitive,
had to operate the engine at a fixed RPM if you needed 60 HZ.

Didn't sell a lot of transformers, BTW.

Lew

On Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:00:18 GMT, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote:

Years ago there was someone offering a modification for a normal
auto
alternator. Essentially to remove the diodes and use it as an A.C.
alternator.

Leece-Neville alternators had the AC terminations on the rear housing
as standard.

Also offered a firewall mounted transformer to provide 120VAC from the
alternator; however, since alternator output is frequency sensitive,
had to operate the engine at a fixed RPM if you needed 60 HZ.

Didn't sell a lot of transformers, BTW.

Lew

I only remember the adverts in magazines. Never actually saw one. With
today's electronics I think it would be easier just to run an
inverter.
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote:

I only remember the adverts in magazines. Never actually saw one.
With
today's electronics I think it would be easier just to run an
inverter.

Alternator output is rectified AC, not pure DC, which is NBD if you
have a storage battery connected since it absorbs the ripple as well
as functioning as a humongous capacitor.

Not sure if today's inverter can accept rectified AC or do they
require pure DC.

In any event, having a storage battery in the system makes life easy.

Lew

On Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:05:29 GMT, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:

Alternator output is rectified AC, not pure DC, which is NBD if you
have a storage battery connected since it absorbs the ripple as well
as functioning as a humongous capacitor.

Not sure if today's inverter can accept rectified AC or do they
require pure DC.

In any event, having a storage battery in the system makes life easy.

Normal practice is to have the alternator, inverter, starting battery
and/or house bank, all in paralell. I'm doing this on my boat with a
Xantrex 2.0 inverter/charger and it is working just fine. We are able
to get about 1.5 KW continuous from the inverter using a 250 amp
alternator, 1/0 wire for the interconnects and dual 1/2 inch belts.
The house bank is 4 golf cart batts in series-parallel.

The alternator actually creates 3 phase AC which is then rectified
into pulsating DC. Because it starts out as 3 phase the ripple is
less than you would otherwise expect.