15-CWT, 2K1, WIRE 5 Body Details

[David Dunlop]

Gosh Robert where do I start?

The Grant Storage Battery Company came into being in the late 1800's, possibly a little later than the Excide Company. Grant's claim to fame was development of a super rugged, what they called 'Deep Discharge' or 'Deep Cycle' Lead Acid Battery. They became very popular for use in submarines, electric street cars and other vehicles, as well as in the communication sector, back in the days when distributed electrical power was almost non existent. They also developed an excellent line of battery chargers. I think they were eventually bought out by Excide just before WW2 but the Grant Charger and Battery line survived well into the 1960's.

The sign image I posted shows the battery we are talking about here.

The two basic, critical features of a lead acid storage battery are it's capacity (how much power it can hold) and it's discharge cycle (how long the battery can deliver it's full capacity before reaching full discharge).

Your typical car battery can be considered at the low end of the performance spectrum. It will only give you it's full capacity for about 20% of it's discharge cycle. This is great for starting your car, even if you have to crank it a few times. From that point on, it capacity to deliver power drops off fairly quickly. If you work one of these batteries too hard ( deep discharge it) too often, you significantly shorten it's life expectancy.

By comparison, the Grant Battery was designed as a deep discharge battery. It could deliver full capacity for about 75% of it's discharge cycle, though I think it was recommended to recharge at around the 50% point to maximize the life of the battery. The huge advantage for the military with these batteries was you could run a wireless set off them for a hell of a long time without needing to recharge. But they were expensive in the day.

The standard 'Wireless' batteries the military used with their wireless equipment probably fell somewhere between a car battery and the Grant in terms of performance.

Which brings me back to wondering what the heck specialized purpose were some of these 2K1 equipped Wireless Trucks used for?

A purely wild thought, but if you have both penthouses deployed on a 2K1 Truck, there is a huge problem with the right side penthouse. The gen box muffler will exhaust directly into that penthouse. Could the Grant batteries have provided enough run time of the wireless equipment to be able to cycle the generators when the penthouse was not being used??? I'm really reaching here not aren't I…???!!!

[David Dunlop]

Rob.

Great info!

Thanks,


David

[Robert Bergeron]

Thank-you Both David and Rob.

A most fascinating variant of the CMP to say the least !

So now we know pretty much where the wires run and the batteries stand.

We know pretty much what equipment was carried , including masts, antennae rods .

Blackout switches and curtains , lights, ventilators , windows.

Q. Was there ever a Onan generator version during WW2 ?

Q. Was there another radio than the WS 19 used during WW2 ?

Basic and fundamental questions. Do we have references ?

[David Dunlop]

Robert.

Has the Wiring Diagram on the inside of the panel box door survived in your truck? On many of the boxes I have seen, this diagram was either badly torn, badly stained, painted over or missing completely.

David

[Robert Bergeron]

David,

The %?&*%$%? door is missing ... all the rest is there.

Why did someone feel the urge to tear off the darn generator compartment door and keep everything else ?

[David Dunlop]

Sorry Robert.

I should have said the small white fuse box mounted on the right side wall between the two windows. It should have the Wiring Diagram on the inside of the door.


David

[Robert Bergeron]

Keep me posted David.

They would be going to a good home.

[Robert Bergeron]

Gents,

Here is the data plate of a wire 5 truck currently in unknown hands in Ontario.

My Wire 5 truck is dated from the same month and same year.