Alternator

There are a lot of essential and non-essential components in a vehicle that runs on electrical energy or electricity. Among the essential components are the various auto lights, the ignition coils, the engine fan and other auxiliary fans and the various parts of the fuel injection system. Then, there are the non-essential electrical components that make vehicle rides more enjoyable like the air conditioning system and the audio system. Now, all these components must get power from somewhere and many of us would tag the battery as the source. While this is true to some extent, much of the electrical energy needed by various auto components actually come from the alternator – that vehicle component that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy.

The alternator is a type of generator used on modern cars, trucks, vans and SUVs that converts the mechanical energy generated by the engine to electrical energy in the form of alternating current (as opposed to the direct current generated by the DC generators used on older vehicles). The main function of the alternator is to charge the vehicle's battery. But while the engine is running, the alternator also powers all the other electrical and electronic components installed in the vehicle.

A typical alternator is composed of four basic parts: the rotor, the stator, the diode packs and the voltage regulator. The rotor is primarily a magnet that rotates around the stator, which is a core of iron wrapped with copper wires. Together, the rotor-stator pair generates alternating current, which would further be converted by the diode packs into direct current that can be used to charge the battery and power all other electrical components in the vehicle. The last of the basic parts, which is the voltage regulator, is used to control and maintain the amount of voltage given off by the alternator.

Now, would your vehicle still run if the alternator fails? It would, but probably only for a few minutes. Your vehicle's battery should have enough reserve power to allow your vehicle to run, but without anything to recharge the battery, your vehicle would eventually stop.

There are a lot of things that may cause the alternator to fail. One is a defective or broken alternator belt, which can be easily replaced with a new one. However, damage in the rotor, stator, diode packs or voltage regulator would require you to replace the whole alternator unit with a new one. If you can have the existing alternator rebuilt, you can do so as this will save you a lot of money. New alternators, however, would last longer than rebuilt alternator units.

Alternator

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