My son is doing a science project for his auto class and wants to demonstrate how an alternator works. Since this will be indoors, a gas powered motor will not be suitable because of the safety conditions involved. Is there an AC powered electric motor that can handle powering a car alternator? If so, what kind is it, and where can i find one?
The alternator needs to generate at least 12 volts.
What I mean by "handle powering a car alternator" is that once the alternator starts to generate the 12 volts or more, the motor shouldn’t struggle or overheat while spining the alternator due to the magnetic resistance it creates.

He will need a motor that produces about 1HP. Motors of this size are commonly used to power lathes and drill presses. You should be able to find something appropriate at Sears, or at a flea market.

Assuming he’s using an modern internally regulated alternator, there’s no need to use a battery across the main posts. There is absolutely no chance of the alternator running wild. It will be regulated to 12-15v. However, he will need to apply a small voltage across the "L" circuit, which will be needed to bootstrap the alternator. Even a 9V transistor radio battery will be sufficient for this. Once the alternator is producing power, this voltage will no longer be required.

I found my motor and want to use it to make an electric scooter or something, but first i need to make sure the motor still works well. So I’d like to test it out on a car battery really quick. Basically my motor is a
24VDC 250W electric scooter motor.
Could i test it out on my car battery really quick to see how it runs?
By the way the car would by a jetta.volkswagen, if that matters.

If i cant test it out on a car battery, do you have any idea of testing the motor without buying a battery or something.
THANK YOU

You need to put two car batteries in series for your 24V DC. It will draw a little over 10 amps, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

I know AC motors have some advantages over DC in some applications, and the opposite is true in other applications. Most cars use DC motors when converted, but there was one professional model, The Sunrise by Solectra that had a huge range and highway speeds that used an AC motor. Why would that be the exception and not the rule?

Generally any professionally built electric vehicle uses an AC motor and home conversions most often use DC motors.

DC motors are already in the type of current produced by the batteries. Therefore the controls used by a DC motor are easier to make and therefore cheaper. The RAV4ev had a DC motor. 1

AC motors have been used in the Tesla and EV1. 2

For an excellent breakdown on the pros and cons of each of 3 types of motors check out these sites. 3

Like many things in life what is "better" depends upon which selection criteria you give more priority to. DC motors are cheaper but can’t climb hills as well and might be noisy. AC motors are more efficient but more expensive and perform very well.

The requirement is using 1 motor and i think a 2.0 Volt battery. And include a detailed lab report can anyone give me like an outline of what to include in the lab report so i can get a basic idea of what to put in mine

electricity and magnetism

I am building an electric bicycle and would like to
build an electric car.

You’ll need a DC controller. That’s a device that produces power ‘pulses’ to the motor to control how much energy goes in.

similar to how locomotives work, would that type of drive system setup be very efficient? would the gas mileage be better with an engine running at a more constant speed?
what I am trying to describe it the chevy volt, but without the batteries.

i agree that is how hybrids should have been built. use a large enough electric motor to motivate the car, and small gas or diesel engine to power a generator to run everything else. this way you can tune the gas engine to run extremely efficiently at one or two rpms, say 1500 and 2500 rpm, and very likely easily record 75-100 mpg if not more.

I have a 9.6 volt battery pack and 2 12 volt motorcycle batteries that are probably to old to use. I estimate the car to be 400 pounds.
What is the speed in proportion to the voltage?

you will need Battery’s that have a good amp hour rating, preferably deep cycle . then you’ll have to have a motor that will handle the voltage that you desire. those battery’s you describe will not drive a 400 lb car with any kind of motor, that is unless it is geared so low that you take a nap while the car is trying to go.

I have a 9.6 volt battery pack and 2 12 volt motorcycle batteries that are probably to old to use. I estimate the car to be 400 pounds.
What is the speed in proportion to the voltage?

you will need Battery’s that have a good amp hour rating, preferably deep cycle . then you’ll have to have a motor that will handle the voltage that you desire. those battery’s you describe will not drive a 400 lb car with any kind of motor, that is unless it is geared so low that you take a nap while the car is trying to go.

I’m going to start building an electric car soon, and i’m trying to understand everything about ac and dc motors, how they work, and which application would be best.

There are many different types of AC motors. Very few of them have permanent magnets inside. An AC motor with permanent magnets is called a permanent magnet synchronous motor. A brushless DC motor is essentially the same thing as a permanent magnet synchronous motor. A brushless DC motor has an electronic commutator that can be an external controller or circuitry inside the motor. The electronic commutator converts DC power to a square wave approximation of AC.

I am wondering if you can use an electric motor from a car or forklift as the motor for a windmill to produce electricity ? Or is this not a practical application ……..and Why?

If you are talking about a DC motor it will work but it will produce DC current not AC current. You’ll to sure an inventor to convert the DC to AC for it to be useful.