On Wed, 30 Mar 2005, Roger wrote: > Hi, > > Let me add my two penny-worth to this discussion. > > Firstly - regenerative braking and diodes. Surely the alternator > already has diodes in it which will allow current to flow in one > direction only - the direction of charging. I'd agree that the alternator has diodes in it, to recitfy the output from what is (I think) a three phase synchronous generator (at least it was three seperate stator windings in the last one I took to pieces). After that though is normally a voltage regulator, to limit the output to something like 14.4volts in a car (and 28ish volts on some trucks) - the question is whether if a different charging source takes the voltage on the battery side above this, will you damage the voltage regulator? To be honest, I don't know what the answer is, and I don't know if a diode is the answer (ie it will block the current flow, but will not necessarily stop the voltage potential which itself can cause problems with silicon devices). Yours, Rich. MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.