SIlverado Battery Cable failed

new vehicles will not run long if at all with a connection to the battery. This is normal for newer vehicles in general.

You should be ok with your battery cable repair.

TY Elbert. Seems strange to me that is will not run with no battery. Shouldn't the alternator generate enough voltage/current to sustain the power draw of the vehicle with every accessory on and then some? Maybe there is some sort of damage protection that kicks in and prevents the vehicle from running. Either way, all seems to be good now.

Thanks again.

Derek

"derek" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

The alternator produces AC (alternating current) and the computer is designed to operate on DC (direct current). So feeding AC to a computer (or any piece of electronic) will generally fry it. I am surprised that it ran at all on just the alternator only. If the truck still runs consider yourself to have dodged a bullet. I have seen people have problems where their car/truck would die on the side of the road or the dashboard (in a ford truck) would go screwy. In each case it turned out the alternator had a bad rectifier bridge and was feeding pure AC to the truck. The rectifier bridge tries to convert the AC to rectified DC or a clipped (positive only) square wave, if you are E & M friendly. So in rectified DC you still have some of the AC characteristics but not to the extent that the electronics will choke if the battery has the capacity to smooth out the power. If you remove the battery then you are feeding the computer the dirty rectified DC. In all electronics ( i.e. receiver, computer, TV so on) if you were to open the case you will see a transformer (to reduce voltage) and some huge capacitors (to clean the current to a relatively pure DC) and small capacitors (high and low pass filters) to clean any stray RF that may be in the house power. The big capacitors will add power (like a battery) to smooth out the variations in the DC. So in your case the computer shut itself down to protect itself from power it can not tolerate...

mark

"derek" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

The alternator produces AC (alternating current) and the computer is designed to operate on DC (direct current). So feeding AC to a computer (or any piece of electronic) will generally fry it. I am surprised that it ran at all on just the alternator only. If the truck still runs consider yourself to have dodged a bullet. I have seen people have problems where their car/truck would die on the side of the road or the dashboard (in a ford truck) would go screwy. In each case it turned out the alternator had a bad rectifier bridge and was feeding pure AC to the truck. The rectifier bridge tries to convert the AC to rectified DC or a clipped (positive only) square wave, if you are E & M friendly. So in rectified DC you still have some of the AC characteristics but not to the extent that the electronics will choke if the battery has the capacity to smooth out the power. If you remove the battery then you are feeding the computer the dirty rectified DC. In all electronics ( i.e. receiver, computer, TV so on) if you were to open the case you will see a transformer (to reduce voltage) and some huge capacitors (to clean the current to a relatively pure DC) and small capacitors (high and low pass filters) to clean any stray RF that may be in the house power. The big capacitors will add power (like a battery) to smooth out the variations in the DC. So in your case the computer shut itself down to protect itself from power it can not tolerate...

mark

"derek" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

The alternator produces AC (alternating current) and the computer is designed to operate on DC (direct current). So feeding AC to a computer (or any piece of electronic) will generally fry it. I am surprised that it ran at all on just the alternator only. If the truck still runs consider yourself to have dodged a bullet. I have seen people have problems where their car/truck would die on the side of the road or the dashboard (in a ford truck) would go screwy. In each case it turned out the alternator had a bad rectifier bridge and was feeding pure AC to the truck. The rectifier bridge tries to convert the AC to rectified DC or a clipped (positive only) square wave, if you are E & M friendly. So in rectified DC you still have some of the AC characteristics but not to the extent that the electronics will choke if the battery has the capacity to smooth out the power. If you remove the battery then you are feeding the computer the dirty rectified DC. In all electronics ( i.e. receiver, computer, TV so on) if you were to open the case you will see a transformer (to reduce voltage) and some huge capacitors (to clean the current to a relatively pure DC) and small capacitors (high and low pass filters) to clean any stray RF that may be in the house power. The big capacitors will add power (like a battery) to smooth out the variations in the DC. So in your case the computer shut itself down to protect itself from power it can not tolerate...

mark

the alternator 'produces' AC, but it is rectified by the diodes into DC before reaching the output terminal

the battery, however, acts as a huge capacitor to filter out any spikes on the output

anyone who runs a modern vehicle with the battery disconnected has no reason to bitch when things stop working.............

alternators generate A/C current which they then convert into D/C

if the battery is taken out of the loop then you've got a problem with current flow. the bottom line is that no (new vehicles) cannot run any distance at all or for some even start with a low or dead battery. Same applies to an alternator not working properly. New cars / trucks require a lot of electrical power to power the ignition system, fuel injection, A/C and all the assessories...

What you experienced is normal... its just part of the game...

wow three copies... sorry about that...

mark

Yup reckon thats another reason to fix up the beast and keep it for another

.. Re: SIlverado Battery Cable failed Group: alt.autos.4x4.chevy-trucks Date: Tue, Sep 30, 2003, 10:34pm (CDT+1) From: rock snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.nospm.com (rock_doctor) wow three copies... sorry about that... mark ~~~~~

attributed it to a studdering condition.....

you are forgiven

scrib abell

Thanks all for your help. I am still confused if the alternator rectifies the AC into DC, I cannot believe that the DC output would not have some filter caps for preventing noise/voltage spikes and frying electronic components. Either way, I guess I got lucky as everything still seems to work. Hopefully won't have that problem anymore. Thanks for the info.

Also, Gary, Define "Newer!" OBD1 or just OBD2 or is this a born after date?

Derek

the alternator rectifies the AC into DC, but it is not 'pure' DC

no matter, as the battery acts as a huge filter to supress spikes and transients

as far as 'newer': any vehicle with a computer

problem....

Sounds like the Battery side post is leaking. You should check that. It was common on earlier years, and if you cable was corroded then I would suspect a leak.

Martin

Alrighty then. Thanks again for all the info.

Derek