How long can I run my van without an alternator?

[ARW]

She took me to salsa dance classes. I was crap at it.

[Tim Watts]

I tried something like that off my own bat.

It looked fun, but I simply confirmed I have no rhythm at all (I could not even master basic skip-steps at infants school in the "country-dancing" lessons () and cannot discern the beat in anything other than

100+BPM techno. So I gave up and now resolutely get pissed at any occasion where some fool has arranged dancing. If I get involved at least I will not remember it :)

[Sam Plusnet]

I read somewhere that cigarette sockets are rated at 10 Amps (but possibly fused at 15 Amp).

How much use can one of these gadgets be - without blowing the fuse and/or melting the socket?

[bert]

Series Land Rovers didn't have either. Replaced by the 90s in early 80s

[bert]

In message , The Other Mike writes

And the steering wheel may be larger diameter.

[Fredxx]

I was thinking of battery discharge, where anything below 12.0V will discharge the battery, anything above 13.2V will charge the battery up to a point. Anything in between will see negligible battery charge or discharge.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

I know that.

[John Williamson]

They vary from 10 to 20 amps. Cheap plugs may get warm at 5.

If you give them a few minutes, they can transfer enough charge to start the engine using the "flat" battery. In this case, it would extend the range by half an hour or so before both batteries were flat.

[Jules Richardson]

I'm vaguely surprised that it's possible on a modern vehicle - i.e. that the control systems don't try to prevent a wayward device from feeding power into the socket.

It'd be interesting to know how close things would be to a 10A limit if providing power for the ECU, ignition, cooling fan motors, indicators, instruments and brake lights (which is probably about the worst-case when driving in clear weather during the day)

cheers

Jules

[The Other Mike]

Ferrero Rocher coated with Henderson's Relish