On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 18:33:27 -0400, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:

Comment below.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Pete C" wrote in message
ChrisGibboGibson wrote:
You suggested that (whatever the failure mode) it was too fast for an
SCR to catch (I'm thinking of a conventional crowbar circuit - and even
*they* are too easy to get wrong). How about a combo; the grunt of the
work being done by a ballasted SCR, plus some transient suppressor to
handle things whilst this kicks in?
The cheapest protection must be a battery...

Snubbers seems to work well.

Hi,

We were discussing ways of protecting alternators from load
disconnection, when a high current continues to flow until the
regulator kicks in.

Apart from an SCR a power mosfet might do it, some like a VNP49N04
have an autoclamping feature that would help.

cheers,
Pete.