Shopping for Car Parts -- Looking for and Finding Alternators & Charging Parts

Introduction to Car Parts Shopping

Every vehicle has a charging system that is responsible for maintaining a charge to the vehicle’s battery and to give a source of electrical power while the engine is in operation.
Over the years the charging system hasn’t changed a great deal. It basically is made up of an alternator, a regulator and connecting wiring.

Car Parts -- Shopping for an Alternator

Many people have found that there car would not start and they checked their battery and it was fine but found out that their alternator was not working. If the alternator is not working the battery’s charge will soon be depleted. If the alternator is getting weak then it may not be able to give the engine enough juice to fire the spark plugs and then the engine will stop working.

The alternator is an electrical generator. It produces an alternating current (AC), which is like the electrical current in a home. Once the current is in the alternator it is converted to a direct current (DC). It is changed over to a DC current because automobiles operate on a 12-volt electrical system, which is DC.

There is an alternator belt that wraps around the alternator that is powered by the rotation of the engine. This belt goes around a pulley connected to the front of the engine’s crankshaft and is responsible for the operation of other engine components like the power steering pump, the water pump and the air conditioning compressor. Some vehicles have independent belts for each component while the later model engines normally have just one belt, called a Serpentine belt that goes around the front of the engine and drives all the components by itself.

Vehicles are equipped with a system that warns the driver if something is not working properly with the charging system. Normally a light located on the dash will let someone know that there is a problem.

Finding Alternators (and Other Car Parts) Online

To find alternators for your vehicles go to www.carpartswholesale.com or to your local auto parts store.