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Lighting Contactors

Merry Christmas
S

Smash

Senior Member
Location
Philadelphia suburbs, PA USA
With a 100% LED lighting load can I get away with a definite purpose contactor ? Sized accordingly of course. Or will I need the 4X the price lighting contactor ? And if so why ? Ty in advance for any wisdom.
 
augie47

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
"Get away with" is an appropriate term.
Most definite purpose contactors are UL Recognized as a component part and not listed as a stand alone piece of equipment.
Most likely they will handle the load fine but your AHJ may not approve of them in that scenario.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
I have gotten away with using them for everything from lighting to fire-suppression systems.

Nobody has ever asked about them or to see them.
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
I’ve used DP contactors for about anything imaginable because I’ve seen them used that way by mfgs.

Hadn’t thought of IEC but they are more commonly available than in the past.

The advantage of the lighting contactor is they latch in, and the ones I’ve dealt with, can be manually transitioned when a coil fails.
 
petersonra

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
ptonsparky said:
I’ve used DP contactors for about anything imaginable because I’ve seen them used that way by mfgs.

Hadn’t thought of IEC but they are more commonly available than in the past.

The advantage of the lighting contactor is they latch in, and the ones I’ve dealt with, can be manually transitioned when a coil fails.
Click to expand...
You can generally add a latch attachment to an iec style contactor.
 
S

Smash

Senior Member
Location
Philadelphia suburbs, PA USA
The difference and I’m not looking for a cheap way. I can get a DP 30amp 120v coil for $25 will still need a housing but lighting contactor same specs with housing $300plus that seems like a drastic difference and if you needed several the savings could add up. That all said I will go with a houses lighting contactor this is a very good customer of mine and I don’t want any problems down the road. Thx for the input.
 
H

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
Jraef

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Using a DP contactor is inherently an NEC 110.3(B) violation. It is not listed, so you cannot use it as intended in its listing. Take that for what its worth to you.

DP should stand for “Don’t Purchase”.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Jraef said:
Using a DP contactor is inherently an NEC 110.3(B) violation. It is not listed, so you cannot use it as intended in its listing. Take that for what its worth to you.

DP should stand for “Don’t Purchase”.
Click to expand...
So, which contactors are Good Purchase? Which are the General Purpose ones we can use?
 
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