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).
Reports of battery failures, dynamo current, and proposed replacement procedures.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 54\2\ Scan073 | |
| Date | 25th November 1925 | |
| X. 4617. EFC. {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} BY22/H. 25.11.25. BATTERIES. -------------- I am not prepared to accept, on their face values, reports of our present type batteries failing in a very short period of running. Our experience has been that battery trouble has almost disappeared. I still believe this to be the case. In regard to the question generally raised by Mr.Minchin that we should reduce our dynamo current, I would like to remind you that on the old Silver Ghost the average current supplied by a new Lucas dynamo was, when considered in relation to revolutions of engine, very much more than we are supplying at the moment, and I am quite certain that most owners run on charge all the time. I propose to write all our Depots and everybody likely to be in touch with batteries, and instruct them whenever it is necessary for them to replace a battery we should be instructed that such replacement has taken place, and we will then be able to get in touch with the makers at once and either stop the battery being interfered with when we want to examine it ourselves, or obtain information as to precisely what the state of the battery was. It would of course be possible to have a standing arrangement by which no battery was re-fitted until we knew exactly what the cause of the trouble was. I think the foregoing should adequately cover the case, and will result in us being informed when and where trouble occurs. Personally, I am inclined to think that the matter has been very much over-stressed, and speaking strictly between ourselves, I am not satisfied that we know what has happened in regard to the particular instances which were reported. Certainly at the moment battery trouble is a small issue. /We were in trouble there was no doubt about us knowing. I am certain we shall know without question when we are in trouble again, but I do not feel there is any suggestion of such a state of affairs at the moment. BY. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} [Signature] | ||