niloc16, thanks for the detailled information. I think i'm sure about what's happening. The extremely high inrush current heats up the relay contacts at the moment of closing. Then they are "glued" and can't open when they should open. Another impulse (permanent on/off) jiggles the contacts and they are again free.
Why does this happen now in Canada while in Europa not even one of several thousand powerbars has this problems?
Probably the inrush current is 2x higher as in Europa because the coils resistance is only the half (you have only 110V, we have 230V).
The problem could be solved with inrush current limiters which are integrated in the powerbars. The disadvantage of these limiters would be that you could "only" get 8A permanent current out of a socket which is protected by an limiter.
My question:
Is it OK to have sockets with full power (15A) but not beeing suitable for inductive loads AND sockets for inductive loads (with high inrush current) at 8A?
I thought about the new digital 6plug powerbar we just started to produce: 4 x 8A + 2 x 15A (of course in sum only 15A because your household can only deliever 15A).
Would this be OK? Or any other suggestions?
@jrm99: Thanks a lot for your commendation and your information about the "switching problem". As you can read above i think we found the reason and we will solve it soon.
|