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 failure and troubleshooting of the 'B' ignition system on a 'S.I. Spectre', caused by a faulty condenser.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 91\4\ scan0072 | |
| Date | 4th July 1935 | |
| HOTEL DE FRANCE, CHATEAUROUX Indre. France. To. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. From. G.W.H. 3. S. I. SPECTRECodename for Phantom III. FAILURE OF B IGNITION ON 3. S. I. As the radio is just about on par with pre war, we have forgot it existed. Our report of the 24th June, seems to us to be clear enough. Condenser of B ignition failed, through the short circuiting of balance resistance. The balance resistance for the coil B was short circuited, owing to the lead wire being badly placed and burning through the opposite terminal. We thought that the coil had been burnt out, but upon testing, we found that it ran the A side without any misfires. The Condenser which is fitted inside the distributor, was taken out and fitted inside the distributor of the A ignition. Then, we found that the A ignition would not function. We then replaced everything as it was, with the exception of the said condenser which came out of the distributor case of B ignition. Having an old Phantom condenser, we got two short wires, soldered them to the Phantom ignition condenser, and fastened the other extremes of the wires to their relative positions inside the distributor, having first picked out your bit of gauze in the ventilating hole, passing the said same wires through. Having done this, we started up the Engine with the A ignition, and carefully switched over to B ignition. It ran equally as well on B ignition as on A.{Mr Adams} We therefore concluded, we may be wrong, that the condenser taken out of the B distributor was of no further use. We have no instruments here to give you its capacity, otherwise we would have done so with pleasure. The offending condenser has been sent on to you to-day by post, and we trust that you will receive same in due course. ---------- [Signature] G.W.H. | ||