

If you have ever been driving down the road at night and then had all of your electrical components begin to fail you have no doubt been a victim of an alternator going bad. It may start with your radio fading, then perhaps your dash lights, and before you know it your headlights are dimming as well. Then the unthinkable happens and your engine begins to spit and sputter and all of the sudden you are dead on the side of the road.
Often times people will mistake this kind of event for a battery going bad and in a way it true because the alternator and the battery are directly linked as the alternator is responsible for maintaining the battery’s power needs. So how exactly does an alternator work in getting power to a vehicle’s battery?
In the days before ac generator a car’s electrical system was powered by generators. However, as the automobile became more sophisticated and required more power, the generators were no longer cutting the mustard and thus the ac alternator was born.
The alternator gets its name from the alternating current it produces as opposed to a direct current that is produced by a generator. But just as the scientist Tesla proved back in the year 1887 current that is alternating can generate voltage that is higher on a more efficient basis and this is something that is needed in the high tech vehicles of today.