- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Forgot to mention this:
You said these are controlled by photo cells. The problem might be there. I've seen some cheaper photo cells that are only rated for turning on small tungsten loads or small interposing relays, ie "ice cube" relays with tiny coils, nothing with any significant inductive kickback like you would see on a contactor. So if your photo cell can't handle it, or is defective and if "fluttering" the control to the coils, it will smoke the coils in short order. Check the specs on those photo cells and make sure they are working correctly.
You said these are controlled by photo cells. The problem might be there. I've seen some cheaper photo cells that are only rated for turning on small tungsten loads or small interposing relays, ie "ice cube" relays with tiny coils, nothing with any significant inductive kickback like you would see on a contactor. So if your photo cell can't handle it, or is defective and if "fluttering" the control to the coils, it will smoke the coils in short order. Check the specs on those photo cells and make sure they are working correctly.