Disclosed herein is an automotive electrical system including a FET based rectifier and method of controlling the FET based rectifier without using either an alternator shaft position sensor or current sensors on each phase of the alternator output to control the switching of the FETs. In accordance with the teachings herein, the voltage and current on the DC bus of the automotive electrical system are sensed and switching of the FETs is controlled by a microcontroller that determines the appropriate switching times based on these sensed parameters.