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Relay Life Update


neilestrick

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I changed out the thermocouples on my L&L E18T-3 this morning. I failed to write down when I last changed them, so I'm not sure how many firings they lasted. However, I checked the dates on my relays and they were installed in April of 2014, so at 150 firings a year, they've now got about 500 firings on them!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for taking the role Neil, I doubt it was a hard decision for the powers that be as you are the person for the job. 

 

OT

I wonder how many cycles that works out for the relay and what they are actually specked for in the data sheet. I have been looking a bit into solid state relays recently or TRIACs but they still seem to come out on par or worse than mechanical relays. I wonder if a relay exists that you can easily replace the contacts as they seem like the only things to go bad most of the time. Not that it costs much to replace the whole thing.

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@High Bridge Pottery There are advantages to solid state relays- they should last longer than mechanical relays, and they can improve element life. However, they generally cost more, and require large cooling fins to keep them from running hot, which take up a lot of space in the control box. Mechanical relays are cheap, though, and easy to replace. The biggest killer of mechanical relays is heat. The better insulated they are from the heat of the kiln, the longer they will last. Wall mounted controller relays last a really long time compared to those attached to the kiln. They can also run hot if the wiring attached to them is running hot. New feeder wires and wiring harness, or larger wires, can do wonders if you have relays that burn out too quickly.

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Heading out to sea today with my friend and our wifes -going crabbing in my small 18 foot whaler. Set out the gear bring home a few crabs as well  -let the gear soak overnight for a big pick on midday tide tomorrow..

Sea is 52 degrees and air temperature  is 49 now warming up. Swell is 7 feet at 14 seconds. It drizzling out.

I'm not sure what this may have to do with relays -maybe I'm relaying these Dungeness crab into the dinner plates.

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5 hours ago, Mark C. said:

Heading out to sea today with my friend and our wifes -going crabbing in my small 18 foot whaler. Set out the gear bring home a few crabs as well  -let the gear soak overnight for a big pick on midday tide tomorrow..

Hang in there Mark, better days are sure to come.

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  • 11 months later...

UPDATE: I finally had to change out the relays on my L&L e18T-3 this morning. To recap, I had installed them in April of 2014. I average 150 firings a year, so they had almost 700 firings on them.  I reset the relay actuations counter on my Genesis controller, so when this set of relays dies I can see how many actuations they lasted. The old set spent most of their life on a Dynatrol controller, which didn't track relay life. I was pressed for time this morning and in my haste I neglected to write down how many actuations these had since being on the Genesis so I could math it out. I'll get an average in a couple of months and math it out then.

The thermocouples I installed a year ago are still going strong.

 

IMG_20181213_125404108.jpg

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