hi, I have riged up a 12V remote control 4x4 winch as a gate opener. The mechanicals work fine, and open the sliding gate nicely. The rpoblem I am experiencing, is that the relays used seem to wear out the contact about every 6-8 months. The gate is operated at least twice a day , and I think that the 4x4 Winch is not designed for such frequent operation.
The circuit uses 2 x 80/100 Amp changeover relays to give forweard and reverse of the 12V Dc motor.
Is there some way to protect the contacts ? the relays are quite expensive in this AMP rating, and it was actually cheaper to buy a whole new winch kit and just grab the relay/remote switch from it to keep the existing one working.
I have considered Solid state DC relays, but as these do not seem to be available in a 5 pin changeover configuration, I do not know how to wire up some SSR's to control the DC motor for foreward/reverse operation..
can anyone help with a suitable circuit, using SSR's to control a 12V DC motor.. as this would elimimnate the relay contact ware.n.tear problem.