| [GMCnet] Alternators / Generators [message #97471] |
Fri, 27 August 2010 10:09  |
emerystora
Messages: 4442
Registered: January 2004
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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I was just looking up parts numbers in the GMC 78Z parts book and I had to look up under "generators" in the index instead of "alternators".
This reminded me to look up an old post that I made to the GMCnet way back in 2004.
For you newbies I will repost it:
> Bruce used the term "alternator/generator" probably because of a message I had sent to him with some info on rebuilding. I think that I said that even though we have called them alternators for years, they are often now called generators.
>
> In accordance with the government-mandated changes in automotive nomenclature that took place during the 1996 model year, we have been instructed to call these electrical components "generators". The name change more accurately describes what an alternator - ooops - a generator does.
>
> It is customary to identify a voltage source by the type of voltage that it provides - AC or DC - and not by the way the output voltage is developed. A true alternator produces AC voltage at its output. The frequency of that output is dependent on the speed of rotation of an electrically charged coil inside a stationary coil.
>
> That kind of sounds like an alternator doesn't it? So what is the problem? What we get from the output of what we used to call an alternator is DC voltage, not AC. The word alternator doesn't fit. How could we have been so wrong all those years? We should have been calling it a generator all along. We have all erred and caused great confusion within the industry for many years. We MUST change, and YES, we will. if you want to make a positive (and correct) identification of the electrical component in question, call it a generator!
>
> Otherwise the Government Generator (Alternator?) Police will be calling on you.
> :) :)
Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Santa Fe, NM
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