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On Wed, 2005-10-05 at 21:00, Jim Adney wrote: > On 6 Oct 2005 at 0:56, Dave Hall wrote: > > > Each brake light is nominally 20W isn't it? That makes the total current over 3 > > Amps DC, with momentary currents higher. I have a bag of 30 normally-closed > > microswitches here labelled 16(4)A at 250V AC. I assume the 4A is continuous > > and the 16A momentary. > > That seems like an odd rating; I've never seen anything quite like it. For most > switches, the lion's share of the punishment comes when it's time to open the > circuit, as that's when the arc may strike. It hardly takes any copper to > conduct 4 A, but 16 A is quite a different story. Most industrial switches will be rated like for make 16A, but break 4A, since industrial load are usually inductive, they have a high inrush, and an inductive kick on release. Our Starter solenoids are this way. A diode in the right place would probably make our 40 year old ignition switches last a lot longer. -- Russ Wolfe '71 FB AT '66 FB MT '64 T34 (not running) '65 T1 (not running) '05 KIA Sorento SUV russw@classicvw.org http://www.classicvw.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~