Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

And then there is this little gem:

Wiring Diagram For Installing Switchboard, Charging NO 5C MK I

Big Thanks to Chris B for being the caretaker of such great equipment and documentation.

David

Well, that's a bit of an eye-opener!

Immediate reaction: "What idiot designed that, or did they get their dog to do it?".

The use of separate charging and load cables between switchboard and battery terminals makes no sense at all. I assume that RILC stands for "Rubber Insulated Lead Covered" cable, and this would be for the permanently-installed vehicle wiring. (That cable type dates from the 1930s - I have some under my floor, thankfully disconnected.)

The only reason I can think of is that a previous switchboard design used knife (or maybe DPST) switches where the charge and load wires had to be physically separate. (Now that I come to think about it, there are some 4-way terminal strips that may have a similar purpose.)
ZA10120 Battens Terminal.jpg

Since they're paired at the battery terminals, I assume someone eventually realised they could save a lot of work and material by using one length of twin cable, making the link at the switchboard end, and deleting the two pairs of "Charge" terminals at the switchboard and batten terminal ends, plus only needing one pair of flexible leads from the battens to each battery pair.
(I seem to remember someone's Wireless Truck had 2-pt Batten Terminals fitted for the battery connections....)

The WS19 cable set that I have (somewhere) uses single (rather heavy) cables (I think No.23 and/or No24 A, B,C & D suffixed), but that may be for use out of the vehicle.

Anyway, it might explain why the "Charge" terminals weren't all fitted to your board, and R.M. probably got a very early set of drawings (and sample) to base their production on.

The C5 is much more flexible than the British No.5 that it was based on.

Chris.