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Victron Venus Relay with solid state relay.


deapsquatter

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Further to that, also note that because of this opto-coupling, the input is isolated from the output. There is no direct connection between the 3-32V input and the mains being switched on the other side.

(Of course, this assumes whoever made the SSR used proper clearances on the board 🙂 ).

Finally, it should also be noted that the main traic is in fact switched on by an AC signal. It's two back-to-back thyristors, and each one of them requires the correct polarity to be pushed into conduction, in other words: You push a triac into conduction by applying an AC signal to the gate terminal.

The Opto-triac takes a DC signal (to light up the LED), and uses that to switch on a small triac, which then in turn conducts an AC signal (usually through a small resistor, something like 470 ohms depending on the load) to the gate of the large triac.

Now it should of course also be noted that a relay does exactly the same kind of isolation. There is no direct connection between the coil terminals and the mains that it switches...

 

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1 hour ago, deapsquatter said:

using the 5V of the VenusGX as a trigger

Well, that's a 12V relay. So your best course of action is to use a 12V supply and feed it it through the relay on the Venus, wire that to the coil terminals of this relay. And then use the other side to switch the AC.

I mean, I could show you a quick NPN transistor trick to use the 5V from the Venus to switch a transistor which in turn switches the relay... but why bother... you still need a 12V supply in any case, so might as well switch that directly with the relay.

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Thanks 12V no problem. The issue I'm having now is with testing this thing. If I put 12V over the coil I would expect the mechanical switch to move - it doesn't. Nothing else is connected just a 12V battery over the coil terminals. I'm using a multimeter to check for continuity. No change with 12V on and off.

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14 minutes ago, deapsquatter said:

Yup - except looks like its an out the box failure unless I'm doing something silly 🤔

You can usually test a relay's coil by measuring the resistance across it with a multimeter. It will usually have a resistance of maybe a few hundred ohms.

Edited by plonkster
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Just now, deapsquatter said:

Must there be 220V connected to the switch for the 12V over the coil to actually make the switch move?

Nope. It's an electromagnet. Apply power, and the mechanical part should click over.

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You can usually see the internal wiring of these relays. What you a looking for are the terminals that the coil is connected to (very small wires wound on the bobbin)

When you find those terminals connect a 12V battery (gate motor or motor car battery) to them.. The relay should pull in when you do this.. 

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11 minutes ago, Richard Mackay said:

You can usually see the internal wiring of these relays. What you a looking for are the terminals that the coil is connected to (very small wires wound on the bobbin)

When you find those terminals connect a 12V battery (gate motor or motor car battery) to them.. The relay should pull in when you do this.. 

Thanks just tried that - no cigar.

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55 minutes ago, deapsquatter said:

I can see the coil inside is labelled AC240V.

The guy pulling it from the store probably just looked at the first few part numbers and never checked those last digits indicating the coil voltage. That’s very common in electrical sales as these guys pulling the parts have no electrical knowledge and would normally not know the difference between AC or DC

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My fault - I ordered the wrong thing. So now I'm looking at:

https://www.communica.co.za/products/jqx62f-2z-dc12v or

https://www.communica.co.za/products/jqx30f-2z-dc12v-flange

These are the only two 12V coils in stock. I'm leaning towards the first one as its heavy duty especially as this is for a geyser application. What you think? 3rd time lucky? 😁

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19 minutes ago, deapsquatter said:

These are the only two 12V coils in stock. I'm leaning towards the first one as its heavy duty especially as this is for a geyser application. What you think? 3rd time lucky? 

Yes the first one looks like a good option and have screw terminals if I’m seeing correct as where the second one is also ok but then it would be better to also order a separate base to go with it.

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4 hours ago, deapsquatter said:

I ordered JQX-40F  https://www.communica.co.za/products/jqx40f-1z-ac240v. I can see the coil inside is labelled AC240V. These specs  http://langir.de/htm/power-relay-jqx40f.htm say Coil Voltage DC 5 ~ 60 😕

Sometimes they have a series of relays, all with the same specs on the switching side, but different coil voltages. The manufacturer will save time and make only one spec sheet for all of them, with a nice table in it indicating the differences (if any). You then get that kind of 5 - 60V on the description... cause that's what the model range can do, not any particular one in the range.

There have been people on this forum who switched 240VAC with the relay in the GX. Personally I don't like it too much, because it means there is mains voltage present on the back of an otherwise DC-component, but the relay is perfectly fine with switching that voltage at low current levels. Also, I am not sure if there are suitable creepage and clearances on the PCB for the higher voltage... so perhaps forget I said anything 🙂

 

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