Safety switch Issues
Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 12:31 pm
Hi All
I use a battery disconnect switch of the type shown in the picture attached to disconnect the electrics completely (except for the starter motor) when the car is parked up. I have just had a second one appear to fail in that when switch is operated the main contacts remain open circuit. When the first one failed about 2 years ago I stripped it down and was able to clean up the contacts and it was fine and found another application for it. Noe this one is showing the same problem. This time I did the usual "waggle and shake" and it would sometime make OK.
The feel of the mechanism is OK and with further experiments I found that if I switched the lights on before operating the switch that it would show the open circuit effect much less. This suggest that if the switch closes to a modest current demand it appears more reliable.
yesterday while out for a drive the voltmeter rose to a higher values that normal just under 15V. when I stopped the car at home it went dead almost immediately suggesting that although the switch was closed that the contact had gone open circuit.
the switch is mounted on the footwell with operating lever in the footwell so it can be operated easily form the driver seat while being out of site. the car is kept under a car port with a cover over it.
On the switch I repaired I noted that the contacts are copper to copper and I was wondering if there was an oxidising problem and might be causing the problem?
Has anyone else had problems with this type of switch ? they do seem widely used for battery disconnection application.
Would welcome any comments form other users
regards
bob
I use a battery disconnect switch of the type shown in the picture attached to disconnect the electrics completely (except for the starter motor) when the car is parked up. I have just had a second one appear to fail in that when switch is operated the main contacts remain open circuit. When the first one failed about 2 years ago I stripped it down and was able to clean up the contacts and it was fine and found another application for it. Noe this one is showing the same problem. This time I did the usual "waggle and shake" and it would sometime make OK.
The feel of the mechanism is OK and with further experiments I found that if I switched the lights on before operating the switch that it would show the open circuit effect much less. This suggest that if the switch closes to a modest current demand it appears more reliable.
yesterday while out for a drive the voltmeter rose to a higher values that normal just under 15V. when I stopped the car at home it went dead almost immediately suggesting that although the switch was closed that the contact had gone open circuit.
the switch is mounted on the footwell with operating lever in the footwell so it can be operated easily form the driver seat while being out of site. the car is kept under a car port with a cover over it.
On the switch I repaired I noted that the contacts are copper to copper and I was wondering if there was an oxidising problem and might be causing the problem?
Has anyone else had problems with this type of switch ? they do seem widely used for battery disconnection application.
Would welcome any comments form other users
regards
bob