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Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2025 1:04 pm
by AdminJeff
Can anyone tell me where to source these bolt on generator "kits" for non-generator cars?
- IMG_3078.jpeg (45.17 KiB) Viewed 356 times
- IMG_3079.jpeg (47.52 KiB) Viewed 356 times
Jeff
Re: Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2025 1:55 pm
by Mark Gregush
Don't know but that is pretty cool!
Re: Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2025 4:08 pm
by Craig Leach
Hi Jeff,
There is a vender on eBay that sells a alternator kit for Model T, maybe the same goes by burnzoil
Craig.
Re: Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2025 5:20 pm
by AdminJeff
Craig Leach wrote: ↑Tue Aug 19, 2025 4:08 pm
Hi Jeff,
There is a vender on eBay that sells a alternator kit for Model T, maybe the same goes by burnzoil
Craig.
no luck there unfortunately
Re: Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2025 6:02 pm
by John kuehn
I saw the eBay item too it’s not for a generator. I checked Model T ranch here in Texas but no luck there either. They make T kits for different things but not that item.
Re: Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2025 11:14 pm
by Craig Leach
I understand wanting to use a generator for period correctness but I'm stumped on the ratio that setup will turn the generator. A T generator
is driven @ 150% of crank speed & that appears to be 100% or less? Jeff can you get a T generator to put out enough @ the reduced speed?
If anyone can I'm thinking it would be you.
Craig.
Re: Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2025 2:27 am
by Allan
To hang that much bracketry on an early motor just to stay with a T generator, is puzzling to me. Would it not be just as effective to mount a later alternator. It has inbuilt mountings,is way more easily adjusted, and likely cheaper than a working T generator, at the same time being somewhat easier to maintain.
I do not like modern add-ons generally, especially alternators in place of generators on cars that have same. However, what is proposed is a departure from original, so it may as well be a neat and tidy departure.
Allan from down under.
Re: Adding a generator to a non-generator car
Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2025 7:14 am
by AdminJeff
Craig Leach wrote: ↑Tue Aug 19, 2025 11:14 pm
? Jeff can you get a T generator to put out enough @ the reduced speed?
Craig.
I'm not sure what those gear ratios are on those pulleys. Max output of a T gen is 100watts. P=VI, so 100w/6v=16.667 amps. I always recommend charge rates of 3-5A, so if it was a reduced speed, it would charge, yes. If you notice how the gen acts when a T is idling, there is very little if any charge. But it doesn't take much more RPM to"kick in" and charge at 3-5a.
I'm sure someone has measured and graphed a T generator's current output to RPM.
Those parts in those pics I posted were also sent to me several years ago by Henry K. Lee. I used them to build a generator test stand. It works very well made and works quite well, so I'd have no issues installing it on a car.
Jeff