I have an inflatable Santa (Plane) as part of my Christmas show. The motor pulls 1.5A at 120VAC (my killawatt reported 180W). I had been operating the Santa for the past 3-4 years with a simple mechanical timer: on at 5pm off at 11pm. But now I want him down for most of the show and only up for the Santa songs (expecting two this year).
The steady-state current is not the issue - it's the flyback voltage when shut off.
I could try to just control it directly with my SSRez (4A Triacs with heat sink), or with Ren24HC/SSS (8A, 6A, or 4A depending on actual controller) most with heatsinks. But I'm concerned about the inductive load on the SSR. I happened to have some 5V logic level electro-mechanical relays (10A at 250VAC) on hand, so I made a simple RJ45 connector/adapter for Renard control - operates fine. Neither the triac nor the relay are critical or expensive. The Santa would be turned on and off at most 20 times a night over the month of December.
Is this enough to worry about flyback-induced premature relay damage? Or are we talking about maybe killing a relay (solid state or electro-mechanical) every couple of years or multiple times per season?
If a snubber is 'required', and assuming a simple RC snubber is adequate for this application, how does one determine the value and power rating of resistor and the capacitor?
If it makes any difference, the relay's rated "Electrical Life Expectancy" is "10^5 operations. Min. (at rated coil voltage)"
Thank you.
Jimboha
The steady-state current is not the issue - it's the flyback voltage when shut off.
I could try to just control it directly with my SSRez (4A Triacs with heat sink), or with Ren24HC/SSS (8A, 6A, or 4A depending on actual controller) most with heatsinks. But I'm concerned about the inductive load on the SSR. I happened to have some 5V logic level electro-mechanical relays (10A at 250VAC) on hand, so I made a simple RJ45 connector/adapter for Renard control - operates fine. Neither the triac nor the relay are critical or expensive. The Santa would be turned on and off at most 20 times a night over the month of December.
Is this enough to worry about flyback-induced premature relay damage? Or are we talking about maybe killing a relay (solid state or electro-mechanical) every couple of years or multiple times per season?
If a snubber is 'required', and assuming a simple RC snubber is adequate for this application, how does one determine the value and power rating of resistor and the capacitor?
If it makes any difference, the relay's rated "Electrical Life Expectancy" is "10^5 operations. Min. (at rated coil voltage)"
Thank you.
Jimboha