Toggle Switch Ratings

[TugboatEng]

I operate a fleet of boats with halogen flood lights on them and have been experiencing a lot of failures of the toggle switches. Each wlswitch operates two 500w halogen bulbs at 120v. Well I found out that light bulbs have a tremendous inrush current so even though the switch exceeds the resistive rating they also have a much lower "lamp" rating that is seldom spoken of.

All of that said I will be installing switches with silver/cadmium contacts but they still don't have sufficient ratings. Would it be reasonable to buy two pole switches and run the load in parallel through the switch to increase the rating? I'm trying to avoid any rewiring or relay installation.

 

[ScottyUK]

Look for motor-rated switches. If you're in the IEC world then an AC-23 rating is designed for fairly arduous duty, although AC-23 device might not be a toggle switch. Could you use a rotary type instead, e.g. Kraus & Naimer's CA20 series?

 

[TugboatEng]

Those are a bit bulky and I may as well do relays when you get into rotary switch pricing.

 

[itsmoked]

Just replace the switches with whatever junker switch you can find that's waterproof and use one of these:

GMC-9M-10-120

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[itsmoked]

An out-of-the-box alternative; Use your existing switches and reduce fuel consumption and increase life considerably by switching to 150W of LED which is the equivalent output.
ebay USA LED link(choose 150W or higher)

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[TugboatEng]

Reliability is important, these are work boats. We're looking at LEDs by Pontilux because the price is right but I personally prefer Pauluhn for their experience in maritime.

 

[ScottyUK]

"Those are a bit bulky and I may as well do relays when you get into rotary switch pricing."

You are, I'm sure, familiar with the phrase "You get what you pay for" !

Keith's suggestions are both good.

 

[TugboatEng]

You know it, I am fanatically NEMA over IEC when buying components. It's just hard talking management into big money when it comes to turning on a light.

 

[ScottyUK]

You'll probably pick a couple up on ebay for a fraction of list price. I used to buy obsolete Sun workstations off ebay to avoid outrageous repair costs through our control system vendor.

 

[waross]

Look for "T" rated switches.
Alternatively, compare prices of other solutions with the prices of "T" rated switches.

T-rated switch
Definition:
A switch rated in accordance with the National Electric Code for use in circuits containing tungsten filament lamps.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter