Fitting big-ass alternator to a van.

[smegballs]

One of my friends has come up with the idea of putting a 200 amp alternator in his transporter, which is wired up to some big permanently mounted 12V audio amps.

The idea is be able to put the rig in the back of a van, turn up at a location, unload and strap speakers and just plug the speakers into that amp rack and party is started. This is to avoid having to set up gennys, unload amp racks and plug in the whole lot etc.

The idea is to keep the van alternator pushing out 200A for a good 6-8 hours or so directly feeding the amps, with a few big batteries to take the surge when the bass kicks in. I think he wants a 2.5k or so of electrical power available. (14V*200A= 2800W)

Problems I can think of:

No governor to keep the engine speed proportional to electrical load.

Possible overheating of the alternator as it sits, at full output for 8 hours with no airflow, as the van is obviously stationary.

Is this even likely to not be a massive fail? I can't see it working too well myself.

[uberkron]

im an auto sparky and do this type of conversion all the time, pm me. Im in nz but can give technical advice and or reccomend an alternator.

200 amp 12 volt alternators are for machines that run all day every day. Id be more worried about a transit engine. You can set up a cruise control module that works off of rpm of engine instead of road speed.
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