can diods be responsible for loss of 0.5V in alternator?

[walian at att.net]

Konstantin,

You should only get a .7v voltage drop across a diode (all std diodes).  This is refered to as the knee of the curve where it starts conducting current.  In a full bridge configuration each quarter of the ac sin wave gets converted to dc voltage. If its putting out dc voltage its probably the regulator. The bad soldering joint can also be the culpret. 

Frank


-------------- Original message from kbogach at comcast.net: -------------- 

> Two 110Ah alternators have same voltag regulators (different batch 
> though) and one ouputs 14.8 V and another 14.3. I don't remember how 
> details of the diod bridge schema and how it works. If someone is on 
> top of this stuff, can you tell me if diods can cause the loss of 
> 0.5V? I have the regulator (brand new) and bad soldering inside 
> (visually not detected when I took the alternator apart for bearing 
> replacement) on the list of culprits. Any better ideas? 
> 
> Thanks. 
> Konstantin. 
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