âI was quite shocked at the scope of the embezzlement,â he said. The Fall of California Democratic Campaign Treasurer Kinde Durkee Christine Pelisek March 28, 2012. But he was an enabler of the CEO's bad behavior, which I believe is a direct result of the firm's size and scope.
A 120 amp alternator in a typical modern vehicle can safely deliver 70% of that current continuously (84 amps). So say with the fan on medium, lights, ignition, small charging current to a full battery, etc there is a draw of about 45 amps. That leaves say 39 amps (550 Watts) of extra power available.
To charge the battery, the alternator voltage output has to exceed a minimum charging voltage. This minimum charging voltage is 13.8 volts dc across the battery terminals, or at the output of the alternator. A single lead-acid cell starts to charge at anything over 2.25 volts. Since a 12 volt battery has six cells, any 12 volt lead-acid battery needs at least 13.8 volts to start to charge. This voltage will be enough to fully charge or maintain the battery on a trickle charge, but charging time will be very long at 13.8 volts. To fully charge in reasonable times, alternator output must be 14.2 V to 14.5 V as measured right across the battery posts.