Maximum current consumption in car?

[LegoHead]

I saw a post saying 90A ? What are the standard batteries rated at and what can they push out at peak load?

cheers, I need info to buy a sensor.

 

[Dink]

you put a dead short across a fully chagerd battery you'll get about 600-1200A

90A will be about the max from your alternator

 

[LegoHead]

Cool so I'll get a 100A current transducer. I'm such a geek....

 

[Dink]

yeah my amp pulls about 120A if i'm being silly and playing pure sine waves.

but can i ask what a current transducer is? (another geek needs to know lol)

 

[GordonD]

yeah my amp pulls about 120A if i'm being silly and playing pure sine waves.

but can i ask what a current transducer is? (another geek needs to know lol)

A current transducer is a sensor for detecting current without inserting anything into the circuit. If you use an ammeter you have to run the current through a known-value resistor in the meter and measure the voltage drop across the resistor. But the resistor itself adds resistance. Which isn't a problem if you working in high voltages and low currents. Adding a bit of rtesistance doesn't matter. But if you're working in low voltages and high currents even a little bit of extra resistance matters, and your test resister has to be able to handle those high currents. So you use a current transducer. A current transducer clamps around an electrical cable and measures the current in the cable non-invasively by measuring the magnetic field around the wire. That's easy with AC, its a bit more difficult with DC.

 

[portal172]

3 bottles of Vodka.

 

[Dink]

ahh right. so it doesn't pull 100A it just has the abilaty of measuring up to 100A

 

[LegoHead]

You can get any size current transducer. I use 50A ones at work, with high current applications. When testing a circuit of IGBTs I run upto 200A through it for a few hours. It get bloody hot!