power supply 1936

meercat

came across this unit today
its a power supply from 1936 in a domestic house in the country
not sure how the power was generated
possibly from a stream nearby
dont think that it is a backup supply
a quick google search says that most towns were connected to the national grid during the 1930s but this house is out of a town
the batteries are long gone
its a siemens installation with brittania back up batteries
must have cost a fortune in 1936

paddymick

Looks like something from Frankenstein`s lab:D

I love seeing old stuff like this,nice find Meercat:)

freddyuk

And here is the potted history of the company Brittannia Batteries.....
http://www.redditchhistory.com/batteries.html
Great stuff.

Bruthal

I hope you upgraded it with an RCD:)

liveandnetural

theres a idea for a sticky pictures of old electrical equipment(i dont mean hairy ould hager boards) stuff like whats posted above

DublinDilbert

That looks cool, any idea what it was?

Love the rehostat...

meercat

DublinDilbert wrote: »

That looks cool, any idea what it was?

Love the rehostat...

seems to be a 12volt lighting supply

it may be a backup system ,however i dont know if there was mains power to this system in 1936

more pics

charge and discharge meters


changeover switches
no health and safety here


mains meter 5amp(not sure this was installed originally or a later addition)

DublinDilbert

I guess a battery system would make sense for lighting, could be charged 24hours a day off the stream, then provide lighting for the few hours. I guess it was only competing with gas lighting, so each bulb wouldn't of had to be very bright.

Must of been very expense to instal, but then again all mod cons are. Also means no trafos needed for the mr10's

meercat

DublinDilbert wrote: »

I guess a battery system would make sense for lighting, could be charged 24hours a day off the stream, then provide lighting for the few hours. I guess it was only competing with gas lighting, so each bulb wouldn't of had to be very bright.

Must of been very expense to instal, but then again all mod cons are. Also means no trafos needed for the mr10's

it may have used electricity to charge the batteries and then used the batteries to provide lighting (im not sure when mains was installed though)
there are indicator lamps for each room beside the meters so it looks like you switched each room on from here

Wintergreen

Thats really interesting! I wonder how someone could afford a system like that in 1936, do you know anything about the owners at the time?

Gate Automation

tray start up again