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[Amps] 10 Meters

To: <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: [Amps] 10 Meters
From: stevek@jmr.com (Steve Katz)
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 07:43:06 -0800
Complicated issue indeed.

Reminds me of the famous phrase used by hardware designers for decades,
now...

"It's only software."

-WB2WIK/6

"Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem." --
Henry Kissinger

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard [SMTP:2@mail.vcnet.com]
> Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 4:07 AM
> To:   Peter Chadwick;  AMPS
> Subject:      RE: [Amps] 10 Meters
> 
> 
> 
> >Rich said:
> >
> >>a MOV across the contacts cures the  problem better than a vacuum-
> >>relay since the reverse EMF still needs to be suppressed to prevent 
> >>damage elsewhere.
> >
> >The problem is that because it's DC, even with no inductive load, 
> 
> EUR  If wires are used to connect a (pretend) purely resistive load, the 
> load always looks iinductive.  And when the circuit opens, a reverse EMF 
> at the opening contacts is guaranteed.  Good engineering practice is to 
> suppress reverse EMFs with a MOV or bi-lateral Si transient suppressor 
> diode. 
> -  With an o'scope, I measured the transient V at the on/off contacts of 
> the switch feeding a 24VDC garden-variety dpdt 15a relay.  As the switch 
> opened, there was 420v across the contacts of the 250v-rated switch.  
> Murphy was right -- "Everything is more complicated than it looks".  
> 
> >and there will always be a reverse you need
> >a very long gap to ensure that the arc is broken. On AC of course, the
> zero
> >crossing helps the arc suppression - this is why switches have bigger AC
> >than DC ratings. Large arcs from things switching are presumably 
> >undesirable in fighter aircraft, and they were talking of having 70 or 
> >100kW of 
> >power available. Kilovac developed vacuum contactors just for the job.
> >
> EUR  One still needs MOVs.  Boeing's lack of a $2 MOV in the main tank
> fuel 
> -level detector's wiring reportedly (FAA) allowed an arc inside the tank 
> that brought down a 747 off the East Coast.  
> 
> >A far cry from the RAF at the beginning of WW2, where many aircraft had
> > problems when the demands for electricity reached 500 watts!
> >
> EUR  For a 4-engine WW2 bomber, using 110VDC instead of 24VDC would have 
> saved many tons of scarce copper and allowed more payload.  .  Hindsight 
> ...  
> >
> cheers, Peter
> 
> -  R. L. Measures, a.k.a. Rich..., 805.386.3734,AG6K, 
> www.vcnet.com/measures.  
> end
> 
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