Switchboard charging panel. A complete electrical control unit designed to charge batteries and regulate DC electrical output. The unit incorporates large open wire-wound resistors mounted on ceramic cores, a central sliding rheostat control, an analog ammeter gauge, selector switches, fuse holders, terminal posts for battery connections and a heavy-duty plug or socket connection. It represents an entire charging assembly rather than a single electrical component.
Panels of this type were installed in workshops, plant rooms, engineering facilities, telecommunications buildings and transport or industrial environments where controlled battery charging was required. They were used for charging industrial battery banks, emergency lighting batteries, telecommunications power supplies, rail or transport batteries, early electric vehicle or forklift batteries and generator backup systems. 1930s-1940s
