Generator vs Alternator

Victor J. Osborne, Jr. wrote:
STC's and field approvals not withstanding. Remember that an alternator
needs current to 'start'.
If you loose power due to battery and alternator
failure, a generator is the only way to restore power, albeit lower. FWIW.


If you loose power due to a SIMULTANEOUS failure of the battery AND the
alternator then you are screwed no matter what!

If you loose a generator, the battery supplies current to the appliances until
it is drained. Since most generator charging systems are marginal, the
likelyhood is that battery is not fully charged at the time the genny craps out,
meaning that the battery goes dead sooner...

If you loose an alternator, the battery supplies current to the loads until it
is drained. Since alternator charging systems are much better at keeping a
battery fully charged, you have more capacity to get on the ground.

In this context, explain why a generator is preferable to an alternator?

If you run a battery completely dead (by doing the dumb**** thing of leaving
the master on for a few days), then you manage to get the engine started by
handpropping, the generator MAY have a slight advantage over the alternator in
bootstraping itself. However, since most of us use a battery charger to charge
the battery before restarting, then this difference is moot!

MikeM