>If I were to run my car with the alternator plug not plugged in to the
alternator,
>would I do any damage to the alternator ? I can't see why it should, but
there may
>be some effect I've not heard of going on.
This is normally a very BAD thing, unless you got lucky, ther is a good
chance you did. The reason is that an alternator will see the disconnection
and it will go to full field, which means it tries to send the max. amount
of charge it can. The alternator will tolerate this for a period of time
(this time period may be long or short, again, depending on your luck) but
eventually this will burn up the diodes inside. Alternators are not meant
to charge batteries, just to maintain the charge. And yes, logically, an
open circuit shouldn't cause a load, so why should the alternator try to
charge? Because of the open circuit.
Just my input, from job experience at an auto parts store, during which we
honored many an alternator warranty on failures that were caused by this
type of disconnection.
May luck be with you
Chad
'72B RDSTR
(daily driver)
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