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Originally Posted by chazzyb
[I think a modern alternator creates a greater load on the engine the more power it's having to generate. I suspect rather than just sinking excess power when not required, the regulator can restrict the power output to match demand. That's certainly possible where there's an electro-magnet rather than a permanent magnet generating the field. Crikey, the DC dynamo on my old AJS uses that principle.
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Not any more, nowadays better and more resilient electronics, (Suzuki reg-recs aside obviously
), allow us neat, light and very reliable permanent magnet alternators, output is constant, excess charge is dumped. The last Jap bike I can think of with a crank mounted alternator and variable output was a very neat bit of Kwak engineering, all the coils, including the field, mounted on a stator, and the whole was neatly clearanced such that the flux could jump the gap and the rotor required no brushes. Very neat and efficient but by today's standards rather big and heavy, the newer rare earth magnets we have now allow very small and light devices with no wearing parts.