Solid state relays

Thought some of the electrical guys might enjoy this. I thought it was pretty interesting

https://youtu.be/KLv7gQ6Milo

https://www.kaizenspeed.com/products/kaizen-relay

 

That’s very cool. Plenty of upsides (ignoring the price), but one big downside is no NC circuit with SSR and I use the NC side of a relay quite a lot.

 

Interesting, I honestly never even considered that.

 

SSRs are good when you're trying to switch things on and off often and would wear out a normal relay or burn up the contacts. Most of the time on a vehicle a regular one is the most sensible option.

 

I like the fact these can be linked and share powers n grounds, potentially cutting down on wires. Test function is nice too. Be interesting to see how this improves over time.

 

The integrated Can Buss Systems is most likely what is driving the cost. And will also make it unpractical for most common uses.

The wire clamp connection system is a gimmick. And not practical for high current devices.

 

That's fair, he references uses in industry, but that's usually only on the control side. Most of the high current contactors use screw down stakes.

 

You'd be surprised the number of places you'll find spring cage wire clamps. Done right, they are very useful and handle plenty of current.


Not sure these are done right, but I'm not ready to dismiss them.

 

I actually see them quite often in low current devices. And, I I've seen what can happen even on these devices. They're great as long as the spring is strong and the contacts are clean. Heat sets in as soon as one begins to fail (2 opportunities for failure). The connection becomes flakey soon afterward.

 

Idk if I've ever seen one failed in a low Current device

 

I'm sure that the environment that I currently work in has a lot to do with the failures that I've seen (Mining Industry). But, Even though the failures are exaggerated due to the conditions they live in, it proves the viability of this type of connection when compared to Set-Screw connections. I believe that the designer of this product is aware of these pit-falls because of the inclusion of the weatherproofing design. But, unless these devices are mounted in an environmentally controlled area, these types of failures' "will" occur. Especially if carrying high current and/or high frequency loads. From my past experience, I would hesitate on purchasing an expensive device "like this" with this type of connection. Just my $0.02

 

Ive been on thousands of tower cranes in all weather conditions, all over the world, UAE, Bahamas, Canada, Washington, California, beaches of Mexico, Cayman islands, Hawaii, Nevada, Florida, Colorado etc, I've never seen one fail. But time will tell! Like I said, I'm excited to see where this goes. I think this is mostly for the custom wiring harness crowd.

 

Yeah he says they are trying to 'fix everything that is wrong with a regular relay'. I'd agree relays are the right component to spec in a lot of cases, and low voltage, low frequency switching in a car is an ideal application since relays are reliable and cheap for high current capacities with minimal Joule heating. As an anecdote, I toured a company in NorCal that applies the optical coating on the nosecones for the Tomahawk missile, and their main production line was all controlled by relay logic. They said they were continuously advised to change to computer control, but they had no interest as it was up and working for over 10 years non-stop.

 

Tower Cranes are spotless clean compared to this. \/ \/ \/

 

You might see more corrosion due to higher ambient sulfur concentration.

 

Tons of relays still in rail too. I've walked into a house that was all old old shelf relays. I think the oldest tag I found was the 30s. They're amazing devices. More and more is going computer though, it's hard to connect Ethernet to a relay.

 

Yep for ethernet relays I use a combination of zigbee and Z-wave intermediate layers with a Hubitat or Labview, but that's a different forum.

 

My personal opinion (Route Cause Analysis) is Contact Contamination. But not necessarily by corrosive chemicals. Just plain and simple Foreign Debris. The debris (dust) compromises' the clamping force on that type of connection. And the connection becomes unreliable. Dust can totally cover a Set-Screw connection and never compromise the contacts in this fashion (until it rusts).

 

I use Midicon and Siemens and Allen Bradly PLC's.

 

Sometimes I wish I used these things. Rail is its own little world though.