Technical Dynamo or alternator

[JonPiz]

You’ve got up help me please. I understand the benefits of an alternator but will it be that much more beneficial in a Fiat 500. Should I stick with my rebuilt dynamo?

 

[Goldnrust]

As long as the dynamo can keep up with your power generation demands, as far as understand then there's no real incentive to swap it for an alternator?

If you're getting flat batteries due to running the car for long periods of time at low revs while drawing a lot of power, for example lights and wipers on while sat in big traffic queues then there's some potential gain with the alternator. Likewise if you want to fit a big sound system, or other high powered electronics that the dynamo will struggle to supply the power for?

Otherwise, might be a case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'!

 

[fiat500]

The wiring for an alternator is simpler and leaves out the voltage regulator, so one less thing to go wrong.
Having said that, you have to work out how to unwire the system and rewire for an alternator.
The dynamo is fine and I would only bother changing if it completely failed (unlikely) or you came across an alternator that was being given away or sold at a bargain price.

 

[JumpJet]

I swapped over and wrote a tutorial posted on here (somewhere… I’ll look for it). It’s beneficial because you get constant charging at low revs (idle), the voltage regulator is a modern, solid-state design, and you can run things like a phone chargers reliably.