General rule for TRIAC outlets, low power factor

[ToLearn]

Is it as simple as 6watts and your fine? Will all 8 watt devices be fine? Is their a way to test?(I have a kill-a-watt device)

I'll be hooking up some low wattage dosing pumps and feed pumps soon and want to make sure they work reliably. It seems as if most of the time people just post what they are using and ask. Hoping there is a better way to be sure.

 

[swearint]

I think the consensus is that anything over 5W should work fine. But if in doubt, test it.

Todd

 

[ToLearn]

Wondering if there is a definitive way to test though. Some appliances, such as hobby heaters, will range in the amount of Watts they'll pull.

 

[kurt_n]

It's not just as simple as Watts either. Here's my example...

I have a Koralia Nano on one of the Triac outlets. Not 100% sure how many Watts it draws, but think it's around 2-3W. I have a feed cycle that turns all powerheads off. The K-Nano works fine with this feed cycle - it turns off, and back on regardless of if I cancel the feed cycle or if it resumes normally. It's never failed to work properly.

I have another feed cycle that does pretty much the same as the previously described one, except not all powerheads turn off. A couple of them stay on. For *that* feed cycle, the K-Nano will NOT turn off. Everything else does, but the Nano won't. All I have to do is pull the plug of the Nano at the EB8, shutting it off, then replugging it back in. The Nano will now be off, and it will turn on with the feed cycle ends.

If it were just as simple as being a certain number of Watts, that Nano should either work all the time, or not. But in this case, it seems to depend on what else is drawing power through the EB8.

If it is a low-wattage mission critical thing that you're looking to control, I wouldn't even consider putting it on a Triac. If you need more relays, Neptune has that new EB4 out that has all mechanical relays.

 

[Gordonious]

Looking at getting EB4 soon, just wanted to see if there was a specific answer and I suppose there isn't a way to get one. Seems to depend on a number of unknowns which can't be quantified.

The devices I am going to use I am not even sure how many watts they draw. The one will be the feed pump for a calcium reactor which will only shut off if something is really really wrong.

Thanks for all the input, appreciate it. Nice when you can get answers even if the answer is that there is no exact answer, lol.

Thanks again guys.

 

[James77]

The EB4 is all relay based, so you need not worry about minimum wattages. Someone correct me if I am wrong...but 3 outlets can handle up to 8 amps , the last up to 12 amps with a total max of 15 amps on the EB4(880 and 1320 watts respectively).