Re: Let's discuss Packard 6V electrical systems and the change to 12V systems

Posted by Peter Packard On 2008/7/3 7:48:01

G'day all, especially Packard V8. Your statement and question about US households in 1920-1950 having a radio that was powered by a car battery etc.... got me looking around and sure enough there were many of them in the US ( not sure about Australia) and they were run from 32v DC, 110ac and 110 dc . They required an "A" battery, a "B" battery and a "C" battery.
The A battery was an automotive type battery, usually of 6v which powered the valve filaments. This was recharged by whatever the generated voltage in the home was, and it could be mains or self generated, via rectifiers for AC or shunts ( such as light bulbs) for DC.
The "B" battery could be up to 4 batteries of up to 24 volts each to supply positive voltage pressure on the plate of the tube to which the negative electrons which are emitted from the filament may flow. It also improved the quality of the radio reception. The "B" battery was charged from the same supply as the "A" battery but sometimes had to be charged in sections ( 24v each)
The "C" battery was usually a tap from within the "B" battery and functioned as a governing device to retard or accelerate the flow of electrons from the filament of the plate.
A 6V Philco-Packard radio set ( for example) operates with these same three elements above. The 6v battery still supplies the valve filaments, but the "B" and "C" battery functions are supplied from the output of the multi-vibrator, which may be supplied as AC or rectified back to DC. There appeared to be quite a deal of maintenance required to keep these large "B" batteries fully charged. I have not seen one personally.
The source of this information and about 20 pages more on the matter was from AUDELS RADIOMANS GUIDE, COVERING THEORY, CONSTRUCTION AND SERVICING INCLUDING TELEVISION. ELECTRONICS, 1939 reprinted 1945. Best regards Peter Toet