Trolley Acc Indicator Disc

No probs,

I was Air Electrical and later Avionics. So was in and out of various Battery Bays as a “junior”.

Later flew a desk in an Eng Ops – so had oversight of their activities.

H

My first posting was in Jan 1965, (to Scampton, as it happens) but I never had much experience of trolley accs or battery rooms, either there or anywhere else for the next 22 years so thank you for your insights.

Terry

I started my first posting, in the RAF, in 1975. As seen elsewhere in this Forum.

In my experience Battery Bays would close for the night at about mid-night.

I never in my time 1975 – 1999 ever saw any type of charging outside of working hours. I think OC Eng Wg would have something to say if it did. In most cases the Duty Electrician was a day shift duty and on call through out the evening and night. Not to be confused with the Battery Bay team manning which I believe had their own shift pattern(s).

Different stations, in my experience, had different policies re the storage of fully charged Trolley Accs. But generally speaking each hanger would be entitled to one with two or three spares to cover re-charging and routine maintenance. Hence RAF Scampton which had four hangers had an entitlement to seven.

Many thanks for the responses.

Hypersonic; your point 3 addressing my ‘option 2’ was badly worded. What I tried to write was that when returned to the GEF battery room/bay (who would likely have several charging stations and where the trolley accs charging area would perhaps be outside (to vent the escaping explosive gas) it might be helpful if there were to be some way of identifying which acc was connected to which charger. I also thought the idea was for the duty GEF electrician to charge trolley accs overnight so that they would be available during the day but probably not in recent times!

Regarding your point 4 addressing my ‘option 3’ I envisaged  trolley accs that had been recharged being held ready for use either stored at GEF  or ‘on the line’ and that there might have been some reason for using them in some preferred order. This was last minute idea for a possible use for the disc (which I’ve not come across before either) !

Sorry for having added confusion by my poorly written options 2 & 3. I’d also estimated option 1 as the most likely. 

Quite frankly having spent many years using Trolley Accs. I would draw the following conclusions.

1. The main cover is from Scampton Trolley Acc No7 and the smaller cover, over the control box, is from Scampton Trolley Acc No4.
2. The white disc is an unofficial mod, in my view, never seen before!!
3. Your Point 2 has no sense – for charging it would be returned to the Battery Bay. To be charged during open hours only. Ie not overnight.
4. I’m afraid I don’t understand your Point 3. Which order of what? At the time of use there were at least 7x Trolley Accs at Scampton.
5. Underneath the main cover there would have been 4x very large capacity 6v batteries connected in series = 24v. The Trolley Acc would have been provided with a very “large capacity” cable and fitted with a NATO standard connector. This was used to connect the Trolley Acc to the aircraft DC external power supply connector. The same cable and connector was used to re-charge the batteries when required. When not in use the connector would be stored in the storage box to the left of the main cover (as we see it in the picture).
6. Your Point 1 seems to be the most logical use of the disc – but very much an over kill in my view.

No reference, but I recall it was (your) option 1.