Quick Question - One channel over two SSR channels

[Matt]

I have a roof section that pulls about 2 amps, which is a little more than I'm comfortable pulling through my SSRs. I don't want to get up on the roof again to reroute cables. Can I make an adapter to plug the strand into two SSR channels at once?

(I would physically jumper the SSR inputs together so they would be guaranteed to fire at the same time, to prevent damage if Vixen hiccuped.)

-Matt

[NogginBoink]

You could, yes, assuming your controller can supply enough current to drive both opto's at once. (Most can.)

However, 2 amps should be no problem for an SSR. Which TRIAC are you using?

[Matt]

I have 10 amp triacs on the board - but they don't have heatsinks and I'm not sure if the traces on the PCB can/should carry that much. Better to be safe than sorry.

-Matt

[wjohn]

Yes, you can make an adapator and have one Controller channel drive two SSR channels.

Each SSR (with a 680 or 750 ohm resistor) only draws 5mA, all the controllers can handle more than that compfortably.

The COOP PCBs are 2 oz copper and should handle more than two amps per channel, I have run 4.5 amps thru a trace during halloween.

Heatsinks are a good investment, Others will be able to advise what the needs are for loads great than 2 amps (@110VAC). I dont use 110V in Australia so I cant give you my observations.

John.

[RJ]

I think your problem would be not having a heat sink. I would not recommend it without one. I am running 3 sets of 300 commerical eve ice lights 2.7 amps) on one ssr channel. I do have a good heatsink which is required for that kind of current but the trace is handling it fine even for many hours non stop.

[ben]

how about 2 sets (50 total) C9 lights. Is that a proble without a heatsink. They will mostly be on and off but might be on for a little while.

Ben

[TERBObob]

View pic below ... and the formula is :
Where A stands for the RMS amps, VA stands for volt-amps, V stands for RMS volts and PF stands for the power factor.
And assuming that your C9's are 7 watt'ers ... that would make for a total of 350 watts . ( 50 bulbs , at 7 watts each )
Which , in turn , equals out to 3.181 amps ....

[robots4joey]

I jumpered 3 SSR's onto one channel for the exact same reason you're thinking of. seems to work great! I'll be running 3 amps total, but now it is only one amp per triac (FYI: I skipped heat sinks this year, so I'm staying at or below about 1 amp)

If you have the SSR's but not extra channels, I do reccommend this approach.

[ben]

I
If you have the SSR's but not extra channels, I do reccommend this approach.

I am the exact opposite :(

[Elmo2resc]

how about 2 sets (50 total) C9 lights. Is that a proble without a heatsink. They will mostly be on and off but might be on for a little while.

Ben

I am running 2 set's of C9's on one channel in a non vented box with a heat sink (just a piece of angle aluminum). I have not had a problem. I did without the heat sink though. Just add the Heat sink and you will be fine. Jerome