Alternators

[jonno]

The alternator on the yamaha wr450 pumps out around 120W at 5000rpm, roughly a third of the CBR600 f3. Since most of the electric draws are the same on both types of fsae car (ie rad fan, fuel pumps, ecu, coil, ecu, driver display) how do teams with small alternators overcome the problem...
1) beef up the alternator?
2) run a bigger battery calculated to last about 30 minutes (the length of the endurance)
3) run a small battery with the stock alternator and find low power consumption pumps fans etc...

[Igor]

You can buy a beefier alternator, but you still won't get to CBR600 levels of output.
If you have EE's with too much time on their hands you can have them build an efficient regulator so you don't have to throw half of the energy down the drain.

Igor