Coil inrush and photocells

[GoldDigger]

We just took an intermatic photo cell off a contactor that was still working after somewhere around 10 years. Never put a snubber on one and always thought a ballast load would be worse than a contactor coil.

To some extent the lighting load on a ballast provides a functional snubber circuit if the ballast is an autotransformer rather than simply a series inductor. Any attempt to suddenly change the primary current to the ballast would be compensated by a transient change in the lamp current.

 

[Sierrasparky]

Find a distributor that sells DTL (dark to light) photo cells. Intermatics dont last, either does torx

We just took an intermatic photo cell off a contactor that was still working after somewhere around 10 years. Never put a snubber on one and always thought a ballast load would be worse than a contactor coil.

Never heard of issue with Intermatic photocell. Could be there restructure has lessened the quality.

 

[kwired]

Find a distributor that sells DTL (dark to light) photo cells. Intermatics dont last, either does torx

Never heard of issue with Intermatic photocell. Could be there restructure has lessened the quality.

I agree, unless something has changed recently, you could usually at least expect about 5 years maybe 10 in some cases.