In the United Kingdom in the 1920's electric lighting was quickly being added to homes. Battery radios at this time were partly powered by one of these, a Climax 3 HT voltage splitter. It worked with 250 volt direct current (DC) mains and fitted via a two pin plug into a light bulb socket via a two-way adapter.. Having done this you still needed an 2 volt accumulator for valve heaters and a 9 volt grid bias battery. The heater current in early valves was high around 300 milliamps per valve, so a 3 valve wireless would draw around 1 amp. These early valves though didn't get hot or give any light glow from the heaters inside.
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| Splitter adapter for 2 bulbs |
The accumulator being the size of a modern car battery had to be taken the the local electric shop to be re-charged for a small fee. I just restored this one by repainting the outer box. Inside I found a multi-tapped wire-wound resistance coil, a choke coil and what looks like a capacitor. The resistance wire would have given off plenty of heat, so the metal cabinet has lots of ventilation. Risk of electric shocks in the early days of home electric power was very high.
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| Inside the power unit |
The three red terminals gave you 1 x 250 volt and 2 x various voltages selected using two plugs on short cables. The three large blck terminals are for the respective HT earths. A 4 pin plug with a white spot in one corner I have yet to find what it was intended for?
Mains in (Red and black rubber wires)
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