German vs Other Control Relays

[fifty60]

I am hoping to get some advice regarding selecting control relays. I am familiar with Phoenix Contact relays. They are well German built industrial control relays, but, they are relatively expensive. In the other corner I have company named "Idec" that is selling the exact relays I need for half the price. The Phoenix relays are rated for 10A, the Idec relays are rated for 8A. The Phoenix bases can, however, hold up to a 4PDT coil while the Idec's can only hold DPDT. The Idec's are consequently smaller (half the size) for this reason.

We've used the more expensive relays for a long time. The biggest fear I have is that we switch to the relays and they begin to fail in the field. The industry ratings are the same between the relays...CE and backwards RU....they both have approximately the same rated mechanical life.

So looking at this, is there any advice like "Only buy the high priced relays" or "A relay is a relay". Any other factors I should consider?

 

[gadfly56]

I am hoping to get some advice regarding selecting control relays. I am familiar with Phoenix Contact relays. They are well German built industrial control relays, but, they are relatively expensive. In the other corner I have company named "Idec" that is selling the exact relays I need for half the price. The Phoenix relays are rated for 10A, the Idec relays are rated for 8A. The Phoenix bases can, however, hold up to a 4PDT coil while the Idec's can only hold DPDT. The Idec's are consequently smaller (half the size) for this reason.

We've used the more expensive relays for a long time. The biggest fear I have is that we switch to the relays and they begin to fail in the field. The industry ratings are the same between the relays...CE and backwards RU....they both have approximately the same rated mechanical life.

So looking at this, is there any advice like "Only buy the high priced relays" or "A relay is a relay". Any other factors I should consider?

Are you switching AC or DC? Relays rated for DC are more expensive than their AC counterparts.

 

[fifty60]

Mostly AC

 

[petersonra]

IMO, there is very little difference in quality between the major brands of relays.

I also have not observed that price has any bearing on quality. The pricing of this kind of stuff is almost random. I have seen the same exact contactor priced anywhere from < $30 to > $180.

 

[mgookin]

What do you want out of your relay? If it's on stanby power and going through one test cycle per week and coming on 3x per year, that's one thing. If it's on a light with one cycle per day, that's another thing. And if it's cycling 400 or 40,000x per day in a manufacturing process, that's different too.

So what does this relay do? What's the load, frequency of operation and ambient operating conditions?

 

[ATSman]

Coil Current

Coil Current

I am hoping to get some advice regarding selecting control relays. I am familiar with Phoenix Contact relays. They are well German built industrial control relays, but, they are relatively expensive. In the other corner I have company named "Idec" that is selling the exact relays I need for half the price. The Phoenix relays are rated for 10A, the Idec relays are rated for 8A. The Phoenix bases can, however, hold up to a 4PDT coil while the Idec's can only hold DPDT. The Idec's are consequently smaller (half the size) for this reason.

We've used the more expensive relays for a long time. The biggest fear I have is that we switch to the relays and they begin to fail in the field. The industry ratings are the same between the relays...CE and backwards RU....they both have approximately the same rated mechanical life.

So looking at this, is there any advice like "Only buy the high priced relays" or "A relay is a relay". Any other factors I should consider?

I am a service rep for a major transfer switch manufacturer and they have used the green Phoenix relays as I/O devices that operate with there microprocessor controllers for years. Then went to the Finder and Schrack brands that they still use today. I do not know the pricing difference but you may want to check out these brands. One consideration for using these brands was the low coil current that was required by the limited power supply of these controllers. As I recall for the 12vdc relays I measured around 30 to 40ma coil current compared to the 80ma that the Idec relays would draw.

 

[Jraef]

IMO, there is very little difference in quality between the major brands of relays.

I also have not observed that price has any bearing on quality. The pricing of this kind of stuff is almost random. I have seen the same exact contactor priced anywhere from < $30 to > $180.

Why is the price higher for a "German" relay?

Because it can be... :angel:

I agree, there is very little difference in quality among the majors. Idec is the largest of all relay mfrs, they were making and selling relays back when Phoenix was just an egg in a nest waiting for the next fire. Phoenix got into the relay biz just a few years ago by buying a struggling German company, but before that, they were brand-labeling Idec relays.

In reality the only way any of them can thrive is by volume. Idec is biggest, followed by Schrack (now owned by Schneider), and between the two of them, they account for 90+ % of all plug-in relay sales under dozens of different names. All the rest of the mfrs. scrounge around for the crumbs they leave behind.

 

[Aleman]

I have seen a bunch of brands of relays over the years. I haven't seen anything to indicate that the ones I like are any better than
the rest. I like Omron, lately have been using Eaton stuff. I do tend to believe in the 'you get what you pay for' philosophy. Electronics
is a thin profit margin business. If one company is cheaper than the other there is a reason for that. The engineers I work with hate
Idec, because they say it's all cheap crap. I have replaced a higher than normal amount of Idec PLC modules, the relays I don't have
an opinion on.