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).
The performance and regulation of different generator and regulator systems for vehicle batteries.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 23\2\ Scan080 | |
| Date | 10th December 1923 | |
| -3- Contd. With regard to the amount of regulation possible, we are sending with 4-EX a Westinghouse generator, starting motor, and regulator which we have run about 3,000 miles on 4-EX and I think you will find on this generator that the Westinghouse people have now been able to provide a great deal more regulation than they originally spoke of doing. This generator will supply about 15 amps to a rundown battery and will actually, from test, revive an exhausted battery sufficiently to start the engine in 4 or 5 minutes running. On the other hand, to a fully charged battery this generator will not give more than from 4 to 6 amps. All the battery makers to whom we have spoken are unanimous in their praise of the constant voltage system. You mention that the constant voltage scheme introduces additional complication and that the vibrator regulator is a delicate piece of mechanism. We think that the same statement might be made of a clock, with which every Rolls-Royce car is fitted. Considering the Bijur regulator has given no trouble in 9,000 miles and has been manufactured since 1912, we do not think that there is much danger of breakdown in the use of this regulator, whereas our experience with the 3rd brush machines is that they are noisy; that they heat up, and that they do not satisfy owners because they do not maintain the charge of the battery. If we fitted a machine which gave a greater output, we have reason to expect that some owners might complain of overcharging, so that really the constant voltage scheme seems to offer the best solution of our different difficulties. OY. | ||