why won't the car run without a battery WAS: the penny drops

[Livolsi, Stephane]

Ok, 2 schools of thought on this - 1 sez car won't run without battery
(assuming it was started and battery removed), other sez car will run
without battery.  Personally I say it will run because I have BTDT ( this
was on a late 60's vintage ford with very basic ignition system, carb, etc).
However, not having done it with my 86 5ktq I am willing to listen to
reason.

Can anyone explain why an Audi won't run without the battery in?

Stephane

> ----------
> From: 	Brett Dikeman[SMTP:brett at cloud9.net]
> Sent: 	September 13, 2002 10:01 AM
> To: 	Fisher, Scott; 'quattro at audifans.com'
> Subject: 	Re: The Penny Drops
>
> At 8:58 AM -0700 9/13/02, Fisher, Scott wrote:
> >Huw answers Tommy Tow from Fairfield, California:
> >
> >>  The alternator is a device for turning motion into electrical current.
> >>  it does this by spinning an electromagnet <---
> >
> >The key word here being "electromagnet" -- meaning, I assume, that if you
> >stop applying current to the electromagnet, it stops turning motion into
> >electrical current.  Yes?
>
> Yes.  If the field wire is cut or damage(or looses power), the
> alternator becomes a spinning paperweight.
>
>
> >The traffic finally made it to I-80 and I started zooming up to speed.
> >Suddenly at high RPMs the engine cut out.  I dropped the revs and
> continued,
> >thinking something had gotten fouled or gummed in the heat/stop-and-go.
> >Tried again, more cutout (where "cutout" means "the whole car shook and
> >shuddered as though being hit by automatic 20mm cannon fire")
>
>
> What was the voltage during all of this?
>
>
> >I called for a tow truck (mainly to see if jump-starting solved my
> problem;
> >if it did, I was across the parking lot from a Sears, suggesting an easy
> >remedy) and Tommy Tow shows up in decent time.  He hooked up one of the
> >neatest toys I've seen in a long time: a little lunchbox-sized
> jump-starter.
> >I gotta get one.  The Coupe roared to life, but when Tommy disconnected
> the
> >jump-starter it started to die again.
> >
> >"Y'oughta get your alternator looked at," sez Tommy.  "Car oughta run if
> you
> >take the battery OUT once it starts."
>
> Wrong.
>
> Look in any race car and you'll see a small gel-cell.  In the pits
> somewhere is a normal-sized battery with a quick-disconnect plug.
>
> Your battery was fried, possibly due to a malfunctioning voltage
> regulator, but also possibly due to a battery failure.
>
> Keep a close eye on everything...
>
> Brett
> --
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