Well to start off I am new to the arduino and not sure exactly it’s capabilities. I am wanting to build a voltage regulator for a vehicle alternator. the basic plan is this the alternator spins and the regulator supplies power to the stator creating a magnetic field and the rotor spins in that field creating electricity, around 13.5-14.5 volts. Faster the rotor spins less the regulator needs to feed the alternator. That way the voltage is maintained. I want to have a few extra functions like alternator and battery temperature and use that to raise or lower the power the set point automatically. the regulator would need to take a voltage sampling from the battery. any ideas
You realize that’s normally how alternators work right? By effectively modulating the stator current?
Ok…
Some of the newer (and a lot of older) Dodge alternators still use external voltage regulators. Find one of those, and it should be a piece of cake to tap into them, find the requisite field excitation point and feed it a PWM’d signal to maintain whatever voltage you desire…up to a point of course.
What exactly are you trying to do?
Well the final project will be an alternator welder. So with that my ideain mind To use the alternator for stick welding, so ideally need 70v open circuit before arc is struck, after arc is struck arc length will dictate voltage. But when scratch starting a tig welder lower open circuit voltage is better say 30-50v. I already have the alternator ford 3g external regulator and 200v 70a rectifier. I wanted to see if the arduino would be a better option then factory regulator. The whole system should be able to switch between welding and recharging battery The max power output regulator would need to output is less then 12v and less then 10a. This is similar to Zena welder and premier power welder. I can run the system now with switches and solenoids and throttle control. Hope this helps