Suddenly no juice
That's right the entire load does not go through the link but the entire BATTERY CHARGE load goes through the link, so as I said, in the particular case when the battery is low, and the thing is charging for "full tilt" the link sees that full amount of current
This goes back to my original premise......I don't believe I've actually ever seen an amperage rating for the OEM links in these cars.
The other thing about "protecting" this wire
You compare this charging wire to house wiring, there is basically two issues--temperature and voltage drop
The way these cars were originally wired, voltage drop is not a huge issue, because if the charging load is high, the regulator just keeps compensating. Heck there could be 3V drop between the alternator post and the battery and it would not be the end of the world
Likewise, temp. The BIG thing that fails is and has always been the blessed connector terminals in the bulkhead. I've said this before...........I used to service heat pumps and electric furnaces, and these things use the same 1/4" quick connect terminals, and they fail all the time. These carry nominal 20A or so per element in a furnace so why would we expect them to carry more against a hot hot hot engine with a 45A --65A alternator?
As long as the wire temp doesn't get so high that the insulation falls off, LOL, that's not a real big deal. The other thing is duty cycle. Ma, Ferd, and "General" Motors all three figured they could "get by" They all figured that "mos'ta time" we'd jump in, star 'ter up and drive off, the battery'd charge right back up and every thing 'ed be real gud. And it 'twas.
(Many 220-240V elements are 5KW each which is about 20 amps draw)
Typical elements, limits, and controls in an electric furnace. I used to replace LOTS of these, all use the same 1/4" quick connectors
That's right the entire load does not go through the link but the entire BATTERY CHARGE load goes through the link, so as I said, in the particular case when the battery is low, and the thing is charging for "full tilt" the link sees that full amount of current
This goes back to my original premise......I don't believe I've actually ever seen an amperage rating for the OEM links in these cars.
The other thing about "protecting" this wire
You compare this charging wire to house wiring, there is basically two issues--temperature and voltage drop
The way these cars were originally wired, voltage drop is not a huge issue, because if the charging load is high, the regulator just keeps compensating. Heck there could be 3V drop between the alternator post and the battery and it would not be the end of the world
Likewise, temp. The BIG thing that fails is and has always been the blessed connector terminals in the bulkhead. I've said this before...........I used to service heat pumps and electric furnaces, and these things use the same 1/4" quick connect terminals, and they fail all the time. These carry nominal 20A or so per element in a furnace so why would we expect them to carry more against a hot hot hot engine with a 45A --65A alternator?
As long as the wire temp doesn't get so high that the insulation falls off, LOL, that's not a real big deal. The other thing is duty cycle. Ma, Ferd, and "General" Motors all three figured they could "get by" They all figured that "mos'ta time" we'd jump in, star 'ter up and drive off, the battery'd charge right back up and every thing 'ed be real gud. And it 'twas.
(Many 220-240V elements are 5KW each which is about 20 amps draw)
Typical elements, limits, and controls in an electric furnace. I used to replace LOTS of these, all use the same 1/4" quick connectors
