On Feb 26, 3:00*am, "michael nikolaou"
wrote:
Hi

I have a 12 v relay driving an large 220 volt AC relay . Across the contact
of the driver relay i placed one RC snubber circut (27NF with 100 R
resisitor in series) to help with some spikes that were influencing the low
voltage driver circuits.
The driver circuit is able to detect *mains zero crossing and fire the
driver relay at an angle i choose .
From what i read the best point *to switch off the power relay is at zero
crossing . I did that and i show a large spike up to 1 KV *at the relay
contact followed by a decaying 500hz waveform to 0 volts . After some
experimentation the best point came exactly when switching off at the peak
of the mains voltage .At this point there is smooth decaying waveform *to 0
volt after 5 periods of * *500 HZ *but no overshoot. The relay presents no
arcing. *If i remove the snubber and make the experiment the best place to
switch is zero crossing but i also see large SHARP spikes up to 500 Volts
Peak.
My question is
*The switching with snubber must be made at zero crossing or at the peak of
an ac voltage waveform ?
What is the behaviour of the circuit ?.
As i understand any large *spikes can harm the X2 capacitor i'm using so
what is the best operating practise ?.

Any help will be appreciated

*Michael

Hi, Michael. First off, you should spec a 12V relay that's made to
handle inductive loads (you can see a HP rating). This type of relay
has contacts which open more quickly, and are farther apart when
open. A small standard relay might not even open up far enough to
stop an inductive arc at line voltage.

Next, when using a relay to drive a relay, you have to be aware of the
delay-on-make, which can be several milliseconds, especially for
larger relays. That might help explain some of the curious results
you're getting. Turn-on delay can be affected by wear and aging. It
also varies from unit to unit, even in relays with the same part and
lot number. Trying to get this kind of timing accuracy might be the
wrong way to go.

It might be better to take a look at suppressing the arc, which you've
already started to do. Here's an intuitive way to start. First off,
remember your basic goal: you want the voltage across the contacts to
rise just slowly enough so the contacts can pull away without
sustaining an arc. That's all.

Remove the cover from the driving relay so you can see the contacts.
Next, find the current rating of those contacts, and use Ohm's law to
find a resistor which will result in about half that current.

For example, if you have a 220VAC load, and your relay can handle
10A,:

R = 220V / 5A = 44 ohms

Choose a 47 ohm, 1 watt resistor here (carbon comp is best). Now get
a selection of self-healing AC line-rated capacitors, and switch the
inductive load with the 47 ohm and C snubber directly across the load,
repeating and increasing the cap value until the contact arcing
disappears, or at least is minimized. Without knowing anything about
your 220VAC relay, it sounds like your 0.027uF cap might be on the
small side.

Note that ITW Paktron makes a series of Quencharc snubbers that you
can just plug in, which makes selection a snap. They're one-piece,
epoxy-encapsulated units, and are very easy to use.

http://www.paktron.com/pdf/Quencharc_QRL.pdf

If all else fails, remember that physical distance is also helpful.
Do what you can to place the arcing contact as far away as possible
from sensitive circuitry.

Good luck
Chris