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One thing that may enhance your visibility are
alternately-flashing lights. Check the EAA 170 site for the magazine article to
make an inexpensive flasher.
Tom- the kind of transient I was referring to for the
battery is that which would stem from closing-through the alternator circuit
breaker with the alternator putting out over 100V. A switch closure will
usually yield rise-times in the sub-microsecond region, limited only by
inductance and capacitance. BTW, were you aware that the capacitor across the
points of an ignition system is not to protect the points, per se. Its main
function is to slow down the rate-of-rise of the fly-back voltage across
the opening points so that it is always below the dielectric breakdown-voltage
in the space between the points. Otherwise, there will be an arc across the
points maintaining current flow through the coil which kills its fly-back
voltage generation, giving a very, very small spark voltage.
Scott-I looked at the BB schematic of the OV circuit; it
has a time-constant of about 27 milliseconds, which, electrically-speaking, is a
long time! It also matters how close you mount this circuit to your CB and
regulator, since wiring has inductance and capacitance which further slows
things down. When you bench adjust this circuit, you do it for steady-state, not
transient conditions.
Garey-very interesting scenario; another one is worn
slip-ring brushes in the alternator making intermittent contact as in the LML
posting that started all this conjecture. I'm not sure what is meant by the
alternator being a "current-limited" device; is that due to some internal
circuitry or just the stator winding resistance? If the latter, then what you
are saying is that with maximum field current at high rpm, there is all but 14V
of its output being dropped across the internal resistance, or 125V-14V. Is
that the case? The open battery condition you postulate is a real zinger! 'looks
like that could let the smoke out of a lot of electronic
equipment!
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