Your car needs electricity. You don't have mice striking flint in your engine's combustion chambers, nor do you have kerosene lamps for headlights. You might be able to hire a string quartet to ...

Have you ever wondered about the electricity that courses through your car? Do you suspect that there's a captive bolt of lightning held in a magic jar? Of course you don't. You're not a Neanderthal.

Modern automotive alternators have a voltage regulator built into them. Typical car alternators generate the field using a DC current through slip rings. The field current is much smaller than the ...