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Charging System Basics

The electrical system in an automobile is said to be a 12 volt


system, but this is somewhat misleading. The charging system in
most cars will generally produce a voltage between 13.5 and 14.4
volts while the engine is running. It has to generate more voltage
than the battery's rated voltage to overcome the internal
resistance of the battery. This may seem strange, but the current
needed to recharge the battery would not flow at all if the
charging system's output voltage was the same as the battery
voltage. A greater difference of potential (voltage) between the
battery's voltage and the alternator's output voltage will provide a
faster charging rate.
As long as the engine is running, all of the power for the
accessories is delivered by the alternator. The battery is actually a
load on the charging system. The only time that the battery
would supply power with the engine running is when the current
capacity of the alternator is exceeded or when engine is at a very
low idle.

Alternator Basics
A basic alternator has 2 main electrical components. The rotor
and the stator. The rotor is the part of the alternator that is spun
by the drive belt. There are a group of electrical field coils

mounted on the rotor. The stator is the group of stationary coils


that line the perimeter of the inside of the alternator case. When
current (supplied by the voltage regulator - to be explained later)
is flowing in the rotor's coils, they induce current flow in the
stationary coils. The induced current (and voltage) is an AC
current. To convert this to DC, the current is passed through a
bridge rectifier.
Stator and Rotor in Action:
In the following diagram, you can see three crudely drawn sets of
rotors and stators. In the leftmost diagram (marked 'A'), you can
see the rotor's coil approaching the stator coil. As the rotor coil
approaches the stator coil, it induces current flow in the stator
coils. This causes an increase in output voltage. As it approaches
the position where the coils' centers are aligned ('B'), there is no
induced current. When the coils move away from each other ('C')
the induced current flows in the opposite direction and the
generated voltage is negative.

Rectification:
You should have noticed that the generated voltage was AC. You
already know that a vehicle's charging system needs to produce
DC to recharge the battery. This is done with diodes. The
following diagram shows a simple transformer and a bridge
rectifier. The transformer is driven with a sine wave (similar to
that produced in each stator coil). Since the transformer is driven

with a sine wave, the output of the transformer is a sine wave


(similar to the one shown). The sine wave is driven into the
bridge rectifier and the output is a pulsed DC waveform.

Bridge Rectifier:
You should also realize that there are 3 different groups of stator
coils in an alternator (not shown in diagrams). The rectification is
much like the simple transformer shown above but in the place of
a single transformer winding there are 3 windings. It also uses 6
diodes instead of 4.
3 Phase:
The following diagram shows the 3 different phases from the 3
groups of stator windings. The three phases of AC are shown in
three different colors. The next set of lines shows the rectified
waveforms overlapped. The bottom waveform (white line) is what
the rectified voltage would actually look like if viewed on an
oscilloscope. Connecting the battery to the alternator will smooth
the white line even more.

Alternator Schematic:
The following is a generic schematic showing the stator windings
and the bridge rectifier. You also see a diode trio. the diode trio
takes part of the output and sends it to the voltage regulator. The
output diodes are the rectifiers that rectify the AC and supply
power to your electrical accessories.

Brushes and Slip Rings:


For an alternator to produce electrical current, there needs to be
some excitation current flowing in the rotor windings. Since the
rotor is spinning, you can't just connect a couple of wires to it
(cause they'd just be twisted off :-). To make the electrical

connection, slip rings and brushes are used. The slip rings are
fixed to the shaft of the rotor. The brushes are fixed to the
stationary part of the alternator. The brushes, which are generally
made of carbon, are spring loaded to keep constant pressure on
the slip rings as the brushes wear down. The following diagram
shows the general location of the rotor and the associated parts.

Voltage Regulation:
As you already know from the 'wire' page, all wire has resistance.
You also know that when you have current flow through a
resistive element (wire), there will be a voltage loss. If the
current draw from the charging system was constant, there would
be no need for a voltage regulator. If there was no loss, the
design engineer would simply design the alternator to produce a
given voltage. This won't work with a car audio system because
the current draw is anything but constant. This means that the
alternator needs a compensating voltage regulator. The voltage
regulator controls the flow of current in the rotor's windings. The
voltage regulator's output current will typically be between 0
amps (with little or no current draw) and 5 amps (at maximum
current draw). The regulator can vary the current flow infinitely to
keep the voltage precisely at the target voltage. Generally the
regulator is built into the alternator. There are some high
current/special use alternators which may have external
regulators. Some of the external regulators are adjustable via
a potentiometer.
Current Demand and Flow:
If you have an alternator that can produce 120 amps of current
(max) and the the total current demand from the electrical
accessories (including the battery) is only 20 amps, the alternator

will only produce the necessary current (20 amps) to maintain


the target voltage (which is determined by the alternator's
internal voltage regulator). Remember that the alternator
monitors the electrical system's voltage. If the voltage starts to
fall below the target voltage (approximately 13.8 volts depending
on the alternator's design), the alternator produces more current
to keep the voltage up. When the demand for current is low, the
full current capacity of the alternator is not used/produced (a 120
amp alternator does not continuously produce 120 amps unless
there is a sufficient current draw).
Dimming Lights:
When you play your system at very high volumes and the lights
on your vehicle dim slightly, it generally means that your
alternator can not supply enough current for all of your electrical
accessories (including your amplifiers). If you play a long bass
note/tone and the lights get dim and stay dim until the note is
over, your alternator clearly can not keep up with the current
demand. If, on a long bass note, the lights dim just for a fraction
of a second but return to their original brightness while the
note/tone is still playing, the alternator's regulator may just be a
little slow in reacting to the voltage drop. Since the lights return
to their original brightness during the bass note, the
alternator is able to supply the current needed by your power
your amplifiers and other electrical accessories.
Warning!
Some people tell you that you can check your alternator by
disconnecting it from the battery to see if the alternator can
produce enough current to keep the engine running.BAD
IDEA! Disconnecting the battery will subject the voltage regulator
(and computer and audio equipment...) to significant voltage
spikes which may cause an otherwise good alternator to fail. Even
if there were no damaging spikes, this test would not indicate
whether or not the alternator was good because the engine will
easily run with a weak or failing alternator.
Simple Test:
If you want to see if your alternator is producing current, turn on
your headlights when you're parked and the engine idling with
the headlights shining on a wall (at night). Notice how bright they

are. Then turn the engine off. The lights should get dimmer when
you turn the engine off. If the lights get brighter when you kill the
engine, the alternator was not charging sufficiently. When doing
this test, the lights should be the only load (turn the stereo, a/c
and other accessories off). With a heavy load, an otherwise good
alternator may not be able to produce sufficient amounts of
current at idle.
Basic Battery Information
Battery Construction:
A standard 12 volt battery (the type used in most vehicles) has 6
individual cells. Each cell is designed to produce ~2.1 volts. The
cells are connected in series for a total of about 12.5 volts. Each
cell basically consists of 1 set of lead plates and 1 set of lead
plates coated with lead dioxide submerged in a sulfuric acid
electrolytic solution.

Electrolyte Levels:
The level of the electrolyte should be about 1/8" below the
bottom of the filling wells. If the electrolyte is above the bottom
of the well, it may be forced out when the battery is charged. If
the electrolyte is allowed to fall to below the top of the plates, the
battery will be damaged. If the level of the electrolyte is low, refill
it with distilled water only. Regular tap water has minerals which
may coat the plates and reduce the battery's capacity.

Distilled Water:
Distilled water is water that's been heated to cause it to
evaporate into water vapor. The water vapor is then condensed
back into liquid water. The distilled water is free of all impurities
including minerals that would coat the plates of the battery and
therefore reduce its capacity to produce electrical current.
Cranking Amps:
Cranking amps is the spec that tells you how much current a
battery can produce for 30 seconds at a temperature of 32 F and
not have the voltage on any of the individual cells drop below 1.2
volts (7.2 volts for a 6 cell automotive battery). This may also be
known as MCA or marine cranking amps.
Cold Cranking Amps:
This is the same test as cranking amps but is done at 0 F. The
CCA spec is especially important if you live in a really cold
climate. Since the chemical reaction that produces electrical
current in the battery slows down as the temperature drops, the
battery can produce less current at colder temperatures
(especially below freezing). When comparing the current capacity
of batteries, make sure that you have some standards to qualify
the current ratings. If you see the current rating without CA or
CCA, you don't know how the battery was tested and the current
rating is virtually useless.
Reserve Capacity:
The reserve capacity is the time that a battery can produce 25
amps at 80 F before the individual cell voltage drops below 1.75
volts (10.5 volts for a 6 cell automotive battery).
Deep Cycle vs Standard Battery:
A normal lead-acid battery will be damaged if it is
completely drained (even if it's only one time).
A deep cycle battery is designed to survive being drained
multiple times.
Deep cycle batteries have more reserve capacity but have
less cranking amps for a given size.

A standard battery would have more total surface area on


its plates when compared to a deep cycle battery of equal
size. This extra surface area provides more area for the
chemical reaction to take place and therefore produce a
higher output current.
The electrolyte in a deep cycle will be a slightly more
concentrated sulfuric acid than a standard battery.
Gel-cell Batteries:
Gel-cell batteries use a thickened (gelled) electrolyte that will not
leak out like a liquid electrolyte. Many of them can be mounted in
virtually any position. These batteries may be suitable for some
applications but for engine starting, other batteries should be
used. Gel-cell batteries can not produce as much current for long
periods of time as standard liquid electrolye batteries.
Recombinant Gas Batteries:
RG batteries have only 2 long thin plates per cell. They are
constructed much like anelectrolytic capacitor. The plates are
separated by a fiberglass mat material designed to hold the
electrolyte. These long thin plates have significant amounts of
surface area (compared to standard batteries). This extra surface
area allows the battery to produce significantly more current than
standard batteries of similar physical size. Optima is one
manufacturer of RG batteries. If you're going to add batteries to
your system and the batteries will be in the vehicle's trunk or
passenger compartment, RG batteries won't vent flammable
hydrogen gas or corrosive gasses into the vehicle.
Group Size:
The battery group size is an indicator of the battery's physical
dimensions.

How the starting system works >

Basics:

How the charging system works

AN ALTERNATOR
Inside an alternator the belt-driven rotor becomes an electromagnet when current is fed to it.
As the rotor revolves it generates a higher current in the stator windings.
A car uses quite a lot of electricity to work the ignition and other electrical equipment.
If the power came from an ordinary battery, it would soon run down. So a car has a
rechargeable battery and a charging system to keep it topped up.
The battery has pairs of lead plates immersed in a mixture of sulphuric acid and distilled
water.
Half of the plates are connected to each terminal. Electricity supplied to the battery causes a
chemical reaction that deposits extra lead on one set of plates.
When the battery supplies electricity, exactly the opposite happens: the extra lead dissolves
off the plates in a reaction that produces an electric current.
The battery is charged by an alternator on modern cars, or by a dynamo on earlier ones. Both
are types of generator, and are driven by a belt from the engine.

The alternator consists of a stator -a stationary set of wire coil windings, inside which a rotor
revolves.
The rotor is an electromagnet supplied with a small amount of electricity through carbon or
copper-carbon brushes (contacts) touching two revolving metal slip rings on its shaft.
The rotation of the electromagnet inside the stator coils generates much more electricity
inside these coils.
The electricity is alternating current - its direction of flow changes back and forth every time
the rotor turns. It has to be rectified - turned into a one-way flow, or direct current.
A dynamo gives direct current but is less efficient, particularly at low engine speeds, and
weighs more than an alternator.
A warning light on the dashboard glows when the battery is not being adequately charged, for example, when the engine stops.
There may also be an ammeter to show how much electricity is being generated, or a batterycondition indicator showing the battery's state of charge.

How the alternator works

HOW A DYNAMO WORKS


In a dynamo the electromagnets are stationary, and are called the field coils. The current is
produced in an armature - another set of coils wound on to a shaft and turning inside the field
coils.
The principle is the same as that of the alternator, but the current goes to a commutator - a
metal ring split into segments that are touched by carbon brushes fitted in spring-loaded
guides. Two segments touch a pair of brushes and feed current to them.

As the armature turns, the current changes direction. But by then another pair of commutator
segments has come under the brushes, and this pair is wired up the other way round - so the
current coming out always flows in the same direction.
Moving a magnet past a closed loop of wire makes an electric current flow in the wire.
Imagine a loop of wire with a magnet inside it.
The north pole of the magnet passes the top of the loop as the south pole passes the bottom of
it. Both passes make current flow in one direction round the loop.
The poles move away, and current stops flowing until the south pole reaches the top and the
north pole the bottom.
This makes current flow again, but in the opposite direction.
A car alternator uses an electromagnet in order to boost output of electric current.

Regulating the current to the battery


The current from an alternator is rectified into direct current by a set of diodes that allow
current to flow through them in one direction only.
To charge the battery the voltage supplied to it must not be too low or too high.
The alternator has a transistor-operated control device that regulates the voltage by supplying
more or less current - as required - to the electromagnet.
The rectifier and regulator are usually inside the alternator housing, but on some alternators
they are outside, mounted on the alternator body.
A dynamo does not need a rectifier -there is a voltage regulator in a separate box, which has
relays.
One relay controls the voltage level by briefly cutting off the current in the field coils.
The second relay prevents the dynamo from overcharging and damaging the battery.
The third relay stops the battery discharging when the dynamo is turning too slowly to charge
it.
http://www.howacarworks.com/basics/how-the-charging-system-works

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