[Wojo]

Hello. New member as of today. Bought my Gray S AWD w/ IQ package on Monday. I'm trying to find out the alternator amperage but can't find it anywhere. I've spent over an hour on google and have looked for vehicle specs and replacement parts (none available that I can find). I can assume it is the same as a Golf or Jetta, but I need to see something in writing. I'm near Cincinnati and we are expecting an ice storm. I need to know the amperage, so I can determine how big of a power inverter (converts 12 volts to 120 volts) I can purchase and run by connecting it to the battery/engine. Thanks in advance!

 

[derekdal]

while I don't have the spec.... do you mean so you can power something by running your car and using the inverter? Most modern cars are 100-120A due to the amount of electronics in the car and I wouldn't go anywhere near that level for the inverter. if you turned off all the items you can inside, you might go for 30-40A

BTW, the Taos is based on the Tiguan not the Golf. However, the Tiguan doesn't come with the 1.5L. I think the engine is called EA211. that might help the search

 

[Wojo]

while I don't have the spec.... do you mean so you can power something by running your car and using the inverter? Most modern cars are 100-120A due to the amount of electronics in the car and I wouldn't go anywhere near that level for the inverter. if you turned off all the items you can inside, you might go for 30-40A

BTW, the Taos is based on the Tiguan not the Golf. However, the Tiguan doesn't come with the 1.5L. I think the engine is called EA211. that might help the search

Thanks very much for the info; I'll incorporate that into my search quest. To be honest; I failed to consider the fact that some of the output is going to be utilized by the car while running at idle for computer systems etc.. However, a lot of the "extra" output capability goes towards charging the battery, and items which require short durations of electricity like lights, power seats, HVAC fan; etc..

I'm guessing the alternator puts out 140 amps, as that seems to be common among many VW's including my 2.0 liter Passat. That's 1680 watts at 12 volts (or 1960 watts considering it actually puts out closer to 14 volts in order to charge the battery). I'm looking at about a 1000 watt power inverter, to produce enough 120v juice to power a 550 watt battery charger (Power+ Rapid Charger) and a 220 watt battery charger (Power+ 56 Volt Charger) to rotate & recharge 6 batteries for my 2000 watt EGO power "generator" ( Clean, Quiet Power—a True Alternative to Gas Generators | EGO ) if I need to plug in a my fridge or a heater for several hours.

 

[derekdal]

that looks like a cool product.

You might be surprised how little power is needed to charge the battery, it isn't that much. modern cars can have 40+ computers in them that can't be turned off. 140A is a reasonable guess for modern cars alternator but the car's consumption is designed to be lower than the alternator capacity. running the alternator at capacity will stress the voltage regulator on it and it will fail early. you reasonably only have access to 90% including what the car uses while running. You also can't assume the power inverter takes in 14V. you might be feeding it 14V but that does not mean it takes advantage of that additional power in the math. it could clip the voltage to 12V to supply a constant input so that the output would also be constant, depending on circuit design.

 

[CLIC]

Hello, these are the part numbers for the alternators in the Taos:
05E903026K - 140A
05E903026L - 140A
05E903027A - 140A