"mike" wrote in message
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How does the voltage regulator work?
Unless it limits the peak voltage, there's likely gonna be
some stress applied to the electrical system.

'Some" stress, you say?
http://electronics.stackexchange.com...tive-load-dump

I built GM a test stand that generated a rapid series of alternator
load dumps, as though driving on a bumpy road with a loose battery
cable. In Flint MI (lovely place) they checked and approved it, then
hooked up their pre-production Seville fuel injection computer and let
it rip. On about the third or fourth dump the lead wire solder joint
melted and it sprung off the big protection Zener, and the next pulse
blasted the module before any of the engineers crowded around it could
dive in to shut it off.

The voltage pulse comes from the energy stored in the alternator rotor
winding, like a spark or Tesla coil.

jsw