[mobi-arc]

Originally Posted by Khorrassany

Thanks for all the comments...

Mobi-arc I totally agree with you...one has to go with technology as well, a lot of thinking is sometimes a burden in the fun trips!! ;-)

So whats the failure percentage for an intelligent solenoid and how long do they usually last if its a clean and correct set up?

cheers
IK

"Intelligent" denotes that it simply monitors voltage and decides when to open-and-close the mechanical contactor. Is it being switched at low current or high current? Are the contact surfaces silver-plated and to what thickness? Is the arc generated between the contact being quenched or not? Too many unknown application variables to make a blanket statement on percentage failures, but if you take a mechanical relay and solid-state relay and test them under the same conditions for mean time to failure, I would bet a testicle that the solid-state would work longer as a simple function of law of averages. If that wasn't the case, we'd still be using vacuum tubes. With respect to roscoFJ73 comments about his installer having returns on "technical" solutions, it could be bad installations, bad wiring, products chosen for the application aren't properly designed for the environment or application they're being used for, could be shit bad luck.....who the hell knows. I just think its unfair to make a blanket statement about the efficacy of solid-state or "technical" solutions being horrifically unreliable. I think it's probably more a function of the "tech" product chosen for the task probably is "liberal" about its ratings and when run in the real world conditions, it packs up.