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).
Examination of the Bentley dynamo to battery charge relation following customer complaints of discharged batteries.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 82\4\ scan0032 | |
| Date | 26th November 1934 | |
| EXAMINATION OF THE BENTLEY DYNAMO TO BATTERY CHARGE RELATION IN VIEW OF CUSTOMER'S COMPLAINTS OF DISCHARGED BATTERIES. We have had several instances where batteries have become discharged on the Bentley chassis in customers hands. Some of these have been cars with radio sets fitted and we are aware that this unofficial extra discharge cannot be coped with on standard cars without a larger output dynamo. With regard to the other cars, as this complaint was wholly unexpected with a regulated system, we immediately carried out a comprehensive bench test to ascertain the cause. Conclusions. We came to the conclusion that the pre-eminent cause of the trouble was due to volt drop in the circuit between the regulator and the battery causing the former to operate much earlier than necessary thus depriving the battery of charge current when the latter was in most need of it, i.e. under high discharge conditions. An immediate palliative for this condition is the fitting of a new regulator which will be adjusted to compensate for the amount of volt drop and thus allow the battery to receive its requisite extra charge when required. A number of the regulators have been obtained and are now running on experimental cars with a view to standardisation. A complete report of our tests with recommendations is as follows :- Tests were carried out to ascertain :- (1) The points of highest voltage drop round the dynamo battery circuit, and the magnitude of such losses. (2) Whether the action of the regulator could be improved by any alteration to the circuit. | ||