FormerE30Owner

Goodness, what did we do before DMEs or computers?

audiophool

One time when me and my buddies were at the lake, we ran out of provisions and needed a beer run but none of us could drive as we were already well lubricated. One of the girlfriends drove us to town in my E30 for more of that wonderful Duff. When she started the car after hitting the ALCB (I'm old), the keys got fouled up on the wiper stalk and the ignition switch got stuck in the start position. She drove it like that, grinding away, until we were almost out of the parking lot before I realized what was happening and unfouled the keys to disengage the starter. Never gave any trouble afterwards in spite of this.

FormerE30Owner

Nowadays, starters are used as generators to recharge batteries, so they are "never" disengaged. My aren't computers clever!

pole

sorry, where did you get this completely false information?

the alternator charges the battery, not the starter.

kd7iwp

I think he might be referring to hybrid vehicles perhaps? They often use their big drive motors to start the engine as well. But that certainly is an incorrect statement for traditional vehicles, especially in the context of an E60/E61.

FormerE30Owner

There is nothing "completely false" about my statement. Besides using electric motors as generators (alternators) in hybrid electric cars, to save weight, especially in small cars, one could use the starter instead of an alternator to power the electrics of the car. The starter is, after all, but a motor/generator. Of course the starter would have to be slightly "beefed-up" to run continuously as a generator.
My statement was just to show the power of computers. Of course this has nothing to do with E60/61's.

pole

Oh I am sorry, I didn't realise you were referring to hybrid/electric cars.

audiophool

Yeah, but the gear reduction of a traditional starter would make it grenade due to overspeed much over idle speed. There's a sprag clutch in the drive for that reason - and that's what was heard grinding on my old sled. The GF was oblivious. And no, she hadn't been drinking at all.