Second alternator location

[1Hondalover]

Has anyone ever seen a second alternator mounted where the air pump is on a 5.8? On the 96 there's an idler pulley there instead. If a second alternator was necessary it seems like a good place to put it so the rest of the points around the other equipment aren't jammed and blocking access. The only bad thing I can think about for this location is that it would be closer to dirt and water abuse.

Thoughts?

[300]

Yes, we have one in that approximate location, and yes, it is much closer to the dirt. The water doesn't affect them that much unless you submerge them or it's salty. That alternator has its own very short belt and custom crank pulley.

[1Hondalover]

If I do this I'm going to wrap it in the serp, but I understand why a separate belt for the second alt could be a good thing. Maybe a bit of a ducted shield to deal with the environment down there. Since we're on the subject, has anyone ever seen or heard of an alternator with a clutch on it like an A/C compressor? I'm not talking about a decoupler or overrun pulley.....I mean a way to start and stop the armature from rotating at will.

[arse_sidewards]

If I do this I'm going to wrap it in the serp, but I understand why a separate belt for the second alt could be a good thing. Maybe a bit of a ducted shield to deal with the environment down there. Since we're on the subject, has anyone ever seen or heard of an alternator with a clutch on it like an A/C compressor? I'm not talking about a decoupler or overrun pulley.....I mean a way to start and stop the armature from rotating at will.

Alternator load is dependent on the number of watts you're trying to get it to produce. A simple electrical switch will reduce it's load to just what it takes to spin the alternator (practically nothing). However, if you still have another alternator connected there is no point in doing this because the other alternator will just output more to compensate for the lack of output from the alt you switched off.

[PaulW]

My opinion -- Except for a racer the extra alternator does not seem to be worth much. An aftermarket Ford g3 will produce between 170 and 200 amps. Way big enough for a lot of electrical stuff. And they are extremely reliable short to being underwater or being buried in silt.
Just curious. The real question is what situation is perceived to have redundancy of 2 alts?