I want to fit lights under my kitchen cabinets and have found some good
mains ones at TLC. I want them to operate whenever my cooker hood is
opened. I remember from my car days of using relays to work other circuits.
I can tap into the light circuit of the hood, so where could I get a
suitable relay that will operate the mains lights?

Regards

SantaUK wrote:
I want to fit lights under my kitchen cabinets and have found some good
mains ones at TLC. I want them to operate whenever my cooker hood is
opened. I remember from my car days of using relays to work other circuits.
I can tap into the light circuit of the hood, so where could I get a
suitable relay that will operate the mains lights?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/
http://www.cpc.co.uk/
http://rswww.co.uk/
http://www.farnell.co.uk/
http://www.theonion.com/

Should keep you busy for weeks.

Alternatively, investigate the switch rating on the cooker hood,
it may be adequate.

In article ,
SantaUK wrote:
I want to fit lights under my kitchen cabinets and have found some good
mains ones at TLC. I want them to operate whenever my cooker hood is
opened. I remember from my car days of using relays to work other
circuits. I can tap into the light circuit of the hood, so where could I
get a suitable relay that will operate the mains lights?

Perhaps the easiest to install/wire would be a plug in octal type -
although it's rather more than is needed. They have two pole changeover
contacts. And a base which has screw contacts.

TLC sell the relay and base for about 15 quid (SR 501) - other places like
CPC, RS etc would be cheaper, but may have a minimum charge.

If you can go down the soldering route there are hundreds of different
types available from electronics suppliers.

--
*(over a sketch of the titanic) "The boat sank - get over it

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Its with TLC I'm getting the lights, so thats brilliant!!!

Thanks for you help, both of you.


Regards


M
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
SantaUK wrote:
I want to fit lights under my kitchen cabinets and have found some good
mains ones at TLC. I want them to operate whenever my cooker hood is
opened. I remember from my car days of using relays to work other
circuits. I can tap into the light circuit of the hood, so where could I
get a suitable relay that will operate the mains lights?

Perhaps the easiest to install/wire would be a plug in octal type -
although it's rather more than is needed. They have two pole changeover
contacts. And a base which has screw contacts.

TLC sell the relay and base for about 15 quid (SR 501) - other places like
CPC, RS etc would be cheaper, but may have a minimum charge.

If you can go down the soldering route there are hundreds of different
types available from electronics suppliers.

--
*(over a sketch of the titanic) "The boat sank - get over it

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"SantaUK" wrote in message . ..
Its with TLC I'm getting the lights, so thats brilliant!!!

Thanks for you help, both of you.

its unlikely youd need a relay. The current consumption of the lights
is almost certain to be below the cookerhood switch rating.

NT

"N. Thornton" wrote in message
om...
"SantaUK" wrote in message
. ..
Its with TLC I'm getting the lights, so thats brilliant!!!

Thanks for you help, both of you.

its unlikely youd need a relay. The current consumption of the lights
is almost certain to be below the cookerhood switch rating.

Unless it's a Baumatic !! Some of their switches are hardly up to the fan
itself.

In article ,
N. Thornton wrote:
Its with TLC I'm getting the lights, so thats brilliant!!!

Thanks for you help, both of you.

its unlikely youd need a relay. The current consumption of the lights
is almost certain to be below the cookerhood switch rating.

I'm not so sure - florries are an inductive load. Some of the switches
I've seen used for this look barely adequate for the existing tiny load.

--
*A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message ...
In article ,
N. Thornton wrote:
Its with TLC I'm getting the lights, so thats brilliant!!!

Thanks for you help, both of you.

its unlikely youd need a relay. The current consumption of the lights
is almost certain to be below the cookerhood switch rating.

I'm not so sure - florries are an inductive load. Some of the switches
I've seen used for this look barely adequate for the existing tiny load.

Interestingly enough, somebody has asked me to do a job pretty much
like this one.

I considered using the lamp switch within the cooker hood to operate
some small lamps.

How can I tell if the switch is suitably rated to handle another
20-50W of halogen lighting via a transformer ?

"Roly" wrote in message
om...
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
N. Thornton wrote:
Its with TLC I'm getting the lights, so thats brilliant!!!

Thanks for you help, both of you.

its unlikely youd need a relay. The current consumption of the lights
is almost certain to be below the cookerhood switch rating.

I'm not so sure - florries are an inductive load. Some of the switches
I've seen used for this look barely adequate for the existing tiny load.

Interestingly enough, somebody has asked me to do a job pretty much
like this one.

I considered using the lamp switch within the cooker hood to operate
some small lamps.

How can I tell if the switch is suitably rated to handle another
20-50W of halogen lighting via a transformer ?

If you mean a real transformer rather than an electronic one, it most
probably isn't. Transformers have nasty surges on turn on unless you fit an
thermistor to ramp it on.

On 5 Oct 2004 13:21:26 -0700, (Roly) wrote:


Interestingly enough, somebody has asked me to do a job pretty much
like this one.

I considered using the lamp switch within the cooker hood to operate
some small lamps.

How can I tell if the switch is suitably rated to handle another
20-50W of halogen lighting via a transformer ?

Hi,

If it's a microswitch it should have the resistive and inductive
rating on the body, the inductive is usually in brackets, eg 8(3)A
means 8A resistive and 3A inductive.

If it's a standard size and there's any doubt on it's rating just
replace it with something up to the job.

cheers,
Pete.

Pete C wrote in message . ..
On 5 Oct 2004 13:21:26 -0700, (Roly) wrote:

How can I tell if the switch is suitably rated to handle another
20-50W of halogen lighting via a transformer ?

Hi,

If it's a microswitch it should have the resistive and inductive
rating on the body, the inductive is usually in brackets, eg 8(3)A
means 8A resistive and 3A inductive.

If it's a standard size and there's any doubt on it's rating just
replace it with something up to the job.


Having taken a look, the switch in the cooker hood is a radio-style
switch with one button for the lights and three interlocked adjacent
buttons for the fan speed. All the switches are mounted on one frame.

It certainly doesn't use a standard microswitch and I can't see any
rating printed on it.

Would an electronic transformer be a safe additional load then ?

In article ,
Roly wrote:
Having taken a look, the switch in the cooker hood is a radio-style
switch with one button for the lights and three interlocked adjacent
buttons for the fan speed. All the switches are mounted on one frame.

It certainly doesn't use a standard microswitch and I can't see any
rating printed on it.

Would an electronic transformer be a safe additional load then ?

I wouldn't risk it. Fit a relay. Cheaper than having to replace the switch
bank - even if you can get the spares.

--
*Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.