David Vegas, I agree with what Dave D. Is saying but don't get the impression that you can do this indefinitely. The alternator has to rest or it will burn up the regulator. To drive the car for any length of time you would have to keep the RPM's to 1500 minimum to also supply voltage and current to the car. That's why the battery is in parallel with the alternator that when it has a chance to rest the battery is running the car. One other thing, the alternator is not made to charge a battery but to keep it topped off, again if it had to run all the time with no rest because the battery was low it would burn up the regulator. Any time you go out to the car and put a volt across the battery and don't get 12.66 volt reading then it either needs a charge or if it gets it it's not holding it. Not 12.4 or 12.3, but 12.66. Always check the battery that everything is working properly, it is one of the main reasons our cars have problems. John Hervey www.specialtauto.com www.deloreanautoparts.com Home of the best backed and best made alternators. -----Original Message----- From: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of doctorDHD@xxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 3:42 AM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: [DML] Re: Car's use of electricty / alternator & battery question Dave, The battery is of course used to power the starter for the car. Once started, the car draws power from it's "power source" This "power source" is the parallel combination of the battery and the alternator. Usually the alternator keeps up with power demand and it tries to keep the battery fully charged. If you need more power than the alternator can supply then you will be draining that power from the battery. Once started you could probably remove the battery and run the car on just the alternator, though this would not be a good idea because the battery acts as a regulator as well. Dave Delman D² & 6530 (minus the resistor) 8. Car's use of electricty / alternator & battery question Posted by: "daviddlasvegas" daviddlasvegas@xxxxxxxxx daviddlasvegas Date: Sat Jul 7, 2007 8:13 pm ((PDT)) Question about the DMC power usage... Is the battery used just to start the car; or Is the battery used all the time for power and then recharged by the alternator; or Is the battery used just to start the car and after start up, the car draws power directly from the alternator ignoring the battery? ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/