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very well stated! the armature simply has the capacity to "push" a greater amperage. the weak link would be the regulator, where the contact points and curent limiter would have to be up the job of a higher current flow... the wiring will be fine- 57-up utilize a 12awg wire to the generator, some factory a/c cars [like my 57 fury and suburban wagon] have a 10awg gen lead... the 12awg will carry a solid 50 amps before heating up enough to melt the insulation, the 10awg was used right up into the 1980s on GM ford and mopars with alternator outputs as high as 74 amps... so in the end- the 35 amp armature paired with a 35-40 capable regulator will serve fine without a wiring upgrade. funny story- i just swapped a 360 magnum truck drivetrain into a 55 buick [including 65 C-body rear leaf springs into the original modified buick frame to rid the torque tube suspension] the buick had a mere 30-something amp 12v generator- with a 10awg lead [surprisingly] with the elimination of the stock gen regulator and a direct feed through bypass, i have the chrysler alternator feeding the original system with the 65 amp alternator... and the charge gauge on the dash even works great.... can almost pin it to + with everything turned on! all in all the gen/alternator will only pushg out what i has to- like vacuum secondaries only feeding an engine what it can take on.... if your battery is in good shape, with all the accessories on... you're only looking for a little over 20 amps of constant output. some people swear you have to upgrade charging systems for stereos and such... perfect example- one of my 58 daily drivers had 2 amplifiers- a 500watt and a 200 watt... and at times i used most of that power... 8awg feed from the battery fed the amplifiers... and the original generator kept the battery and system alive... even to this day- 2 owners later... still charging! -----Original Message----- From: Mike & Sharon Higgins <clearcreek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:54 am Subject: Re: [FWDLK] GENERATOR QUESTION The generator will produce Voltage. The Voltage is limited, or controlled, by the specific set of connecting points in the Generator Regulator. The generator only produces Amperage if it is connected to a circuit that will allow the voltage to push a current (amperage) through. The amperage is not controlled by the generator, by the Current limiter portion of the Generator Regulator. The difference in the Armatures is not in how much amperage is produced (each will produce as much as needed in the system) but by the capability of the wiring in the armature. If the wiring is heavy enough, the current produced will flow without too much interference (resistance) and will not produce too much heat. If the armature wiring is not low enough in resistance, the generator will heat up too quickly, and "burn up." The result, then, if you use a higher capacity armature, is that the generator will be capable of hand!
ling the higher demands of your electrical system without overheating. The rest of the wiring in the system would have to be capable of handling that extra 5 amps, though, or you may experience melting insulation on the wires.
There is something called "Inductive reactance" which is much more affective to an Alternator system, and has little effect in an older generator system, and has to do with the limit of amperage produced by a charging system. Bur the short answer is that if you install a higher capacity generator armature into you 30 amp system, and if you electrical system demands that 35 amps, your regulator must be set to allow the 35 amps to flow, and your wiring must be capable of handling the additional current without overheating.
Good Luck.
Mike Higgins
1955 Belvedere Sport Coupe
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