From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Performance and failures of various electrical components including ignition systems, battery, and headlamps.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 11\5\ 05-page218 | |
| Date | 7th March 1935 | |
| -3- DISTRIBUTOR & CONTACTS. The contacts showed little sign of burning or wear. The gap remained consistent. The distributor showed no sign of any tracking. COIL IGNITION FITTED WITH PHILCO SUPPRESSORS. We had three failures due to the fitting of the suppressors. This occurred on Nos. 1, 2 & 5. The condensor cutting out the high tension current, only a faint spark was obtained at the plug points. The plugs fired immediately the condensers were taken off. IGNITION PLUGS. KLG. EDB. With the exception of the above misfiring, no trouble was experienced with the plugs. There was slight burning of the points. MAGNETO IGNITION. No further trouble was experienced with the magneto ignition. BATTERY. The suspension of the battery did not show any weakness and remained intact. The battery did not give any indication of deterioration. The supply for all purposes was adequate. NEW HEAD LAMPS OF MODIFIED TYPE, LOP. D.74023. The head lamps were not a success. We were unfortunate in the first place by an owl hitting the nearside lamp, breaking the glass and destroying all the interior. This put the lamp entirely out of action, leaving one lamp in use. The troubles with the o.s. lamp have been - (1) The plunger connection for the leg of bulb socket has chattered and burnt the connection away. When a bad connection is made, this portion becomes red hot and destroys the plunger spring. This is still a poor feature of this type of head lamp. (2) The pressing for holding the dipping unit at the back of the lamp broke away. The spare from the n.s. lamp was fitted, this also broke. The dipping unit is too heavy for this metal support used. | ||