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Posted by David Sherman on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 01:59:32 :
In Reply to: Batteries, alternators, and related problems posted by Jerry in Idaho on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 00:53:06 :
The batteries are the tank. Electricity, like water, runs in from the alternator at some maximum rate (like the size of the pipe in plumbing). Electricity goes out in spurts through the plow motor. Because of the storage provided by the battery, you can draw it out faster than you put it in, so long as the average draw out is less than the average in-flow. Theoretically, so long as the battery holds enough juice to run the pump motor for one cycle, and the cycles aren't too close together, the alternator should keep it topped up. More batteries wouldn't help.
The complexity is that the alternator output depends on engine RPMs and you're not typically running at high RPMs while plowing. That "100 amp" alternator may never get up to 100 amps. It may barely even get to charging at all sometimes. I don't have a plow, so I can't speak from experience, but if I had this problem, I would put a good ammeter that measures actually amps (not just some "charge/discharge" scale) on the truck and watch it while I was working. If it rarely got near its rated output, I would then work on the alternator to get it to put out at a lower RPM, rather than add more batteries. More batteries helps, just as a bigger storage tank would make up somewhat for a clogged inlet pipe, but the real solution is to improve the supply end of the system rather than the storage end.
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