Nick wrote:
>>>Fellow shop-rats...
I vaguely remember Mr. Pflueger's shop class, wherein he taught us about
putting E, I and R in a circle, so that you could choose one and find the
others. Unfortunately, I remember nothing else. I know that this has become a
"self-serve" society, and most retail clerk positions are minimum wage, but,
I thought that in the entire Radio Shack store, someone could tell me how
many amps a 125 volt ac 10 amp switch would handle when run on 12 volts dc. I
was wrong, not only couldn't anyone even venture a guess, but they called
their "tech" support line for me, and after 20 minutes on hold, I was
rewarded with this "pearl of wisdom" ..."we don't know "!
So how about it guys ? I know we have more than a few "electrical" type guys
out there. Help the electrically challanged.
Clueless after I try the switch...
Nick in Nor Cal
<<<<<
Hi Nick,
Let me have a look into my check book with all those "pearls of wisdom",
hahaha!
:->>
Unfortunatly, you canīt divide or multiplicate the AC-value by something,
but for shure, the DC-value will be less than 10 Amps. Would suppose between 4
and 6 A.
If you want some theory (very short and easy), here it goes:
As you remember, AC means, that the voltage (and therefore the current too)
vary
in form of a sinewave from + to -(and between itīll be zero). On your side of
the pond it does it 60 times a second thus it is very unlikely to switch on/off
allways at points off the sinewave were maximums (E and I) occure. The essence
is, over a period of time, you will have in average less switched current on AC
than you would have on DC ,of course with the same consumer(bulb,etc.).
As I now got a little bit "famililar" with you, Nick, I would bet you wanna use
it for automotive reasons.
Be aware of arcing when switching coils, relais,etc.
Give me an idea about what youīre gonna switching and Iīll tell you more.
Hope that helped you a bit
BFN
Peter Juergens
Germany
PiJay@t-online.de
62īTR4 every day
|