120v Photocell Relay

Tonyr1084

Joined Sep 24, 2015
9,744
Keep in mind the relay will be ON all night (to keep the pumps off). Make sure you have a relay rated for continuous use. Otherwise it will fail in short order and you'll be back to square one. The coil needs to be AC rated as well as "Continuous duty". Choose wisely.
 

Tonyr1084

Joined Sep 24, 2015
9,744
Couple of recurring review complaints: Relay comes with only 3 wires. Not enough for the TWO relays they send you. They also complain about the gauge and quality of the crimp connectors and wires. If these complaints are common (which it appears to be) then getting your own crimps and suitable wire gauge might be your better option. Overall there are 5 star reviews where people are happy with the product. Here's a screen shot of some 4 star reviews:
View attachment 357998
Keep in mind the second review seems to be using the relays for switching DC. In the primary picture the nomenclature on the face of the relay suggests the contacts are rated at 30 amps for 14 volts DC. His reported failure doesn't describe the conditions the relay was being used in. If switching high voltage DC then there's a good possibility the user overextended what the contacts are rated for. DC contacts versus AC contacts, AC can be a lot higher than DC. Look at most relays and you'll see where the AC voltage can be significantly higher current than DC. In this case, 30A @ 240VAC and 30A @ 14VDC. The reason for this is a whole other discussion.
 

Thread Starter

DC_Kid

Joined Feb 25, 2008
1,242
Keep in mind the relay will be ON all night (to keep the pumps off). Make sure you have a relay rated for continuous use. Otherwise it will fail in short order and you'll be back to square one. The coil needs to be AC rated as well as "Continuous duty". Choose wisely.
The relay will have a duty cycle of roughly 50%, with frequency 1:24hr.
 

Tonyr1084

Joined Sep 24, 2015
9,744
12 hours is a long duty cycle. And that's generally speaking. Winter daylight is significantly shorter than the night time. So during winter hours the relay will remain active far longer than it would be off during the day.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
27,587
There are constant duty AC relays available. about a year ago I built a box to prevent an automatic restart of an appliance after a power outage. That relay stayed energized for over a year, then the protected appliance wore out. So there are constant duty relays available. They are seldom the least expensive ones.
 
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