Attached is an image of a solenoid valve coil. This coil had a pretty short life of about maybe an hour. I recently designed a large control panel, part of which involves the control of many assorted valves. As we move towards a more safe work environment I try to use low DC voltage wherever possible. When I drew up the BOM (Bill of Materials) I called out 24 VDC coils for all solenoids. In order to leave the pipe fitters and welders some margin I stopped with the coil voltage being 24 VDC.
Note the fine print on the coil. Looks good right till we see the 60 Hz. People sometimes ask what will happen if we apply 24 VDC to a 24 VAC coil? I always answer with humor it will work fine for a little while then things get ugly. The attached image defines the ugly I speak of. This coil and another identical coil lasted about 30 min of continuous duty. Initially it ran intermittent duty during system test. Besides the two used for one application I found a few others that never had a chance to fry. The remainder were all correct so go figure.
Anyway it shows what happens when we apply 24 VDC to a coil rated for 24 VAC. Obviously the same would hold true for a relay coil.![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Ron
Note the fine print on the coil. Looks good right till we see the 60 Hz. People sometimes ask what will happen if we apply 24 VDC to a 24 VAC coil? I always answer with humor it will work fine for a little while then things get ugly. The attached image defines the ugly I speak of. This coil and another identical coil lasted about 30 min of continuous duty. Initially it ran intermittent duty during system test. Besides the two used for one application I found a few others that never had a chance to fry. The remainder were all correct so go figure.
Anyway it shows what happens when we apply 24 VDC to a coil rated for 24 VAC. Obviously the same would hold true for a relay coil.
Ron
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