How much amperage can an alternator support? no really...

[john at westcoastgarage.net]

We smog '84s here. In fact, we go back to '76.  Trust me, 35 years of 
smog prep tells me a car running with the fan on all the time doesn't 
get it in the real world.  John

Huw Powell wrote:
>
>
>>  If the fan's on all the time, 90% of the time it won't pass smog. 
>
> We're dealing with an '84 here, not an '04.
>
>> It's just like having a thermostat stuck open. 
>
> No, it isn't.  It's like having a nice cold reservoir of coolant for 
> the tstat to let into the engine when it opens.
>
> Although it seems like a wasteful hack - that fan is using about a 
> third of a horsepower in raw electricity that has generation 
> inefficiencies.
>