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Paul wrote:
Here is a posting from someone who was not happy with their Racemate alt/water pump assembly. Seems his problem is that he is running lower rpm's than we are. Interesting reading, however. He seemed positive regarding the idea of combining alt and water pump, and the quality of the pump. http://pages.zdnet.com/tonytryke/id8.html Paul Conner
My understanding is that this problem was what prodded the developement of the alternator in the first place. The output voltage can be controlled by RPM. It can also be controlled by magnet strength. Since cars spend a significant amount of time at lower RPM, smart people developed a way to control the magnet strength through an electromagnet.
We don't have the problem that alternators were designed to fix. We spend a very insignificant amount of time at idle. Our systems will probably be using partial battery power starting on downwind as we begin the decent until we line up on the numbers and firewall it for the next takeoff. I'll gladly trade that small drain for the simplicity of a generator, and I'll monitor my batteries carefully to account for it.
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