Quote:
Originally Posted by NoBozo
He would routinely take the car out for an entire Sunday ride...with NO functioning Alternator. ONLY the battery was there for electricity for Ignition and anything else. You could start the engine any number of times, and then Drive It ALL DAY On The Battery Alone....say 150-200 miles..Rhode Island down to Connecticut and back. The only catch was don't use the headlights or radio. No one with a Ferrari uses the radio anyway.
If the car had had Electronic Fuel Injection requireing electrical power, it might have been a different story.
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Going back to the Ferrari question for a moment, I'm certainly not an expert but the Ferrari may have had a magneto ignition. Magnetos generate their own electricity to fire spark plugs so as long as the battery was in good enough condition to start the engine a few times (assuming they would make some occasional stops during their Sunday drive) and they didn't run any other electrical systems (radio, lights, etc.), the magneto would have taken care of the ignition system.
Magnetos are still in use today; remember what provides the spark for your basic chainsaw, lawn mower, weed wacker, etc., etc.? As a matter of fact, NHRA Funny Car and Top Fuel engines still use twin magnetos to fire 2 spark plugs per cylinder. How else would they be able to make 8,000 HP??
Regarding the discussion on battery switches, my Outlaw has twin batteries with a switch with positions labeled Batt #1, Batt #2, Both and Off. If memory serves me correctly, there's a label on the switch that says do NOT run the engine with the switch set to Both (something about frying the alternator or regulator). I also know for a fact that when I'm towing to the lake after a rainy week and I go up a hill, the bilge pump will come on if there's enough rain water collected and pump it out; the switch is set to Off when the boat is on the trailer. I have yet to figure out in what conditions I would use the switch set to Both. Any ideas?