• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

Patterson 2000D Enlarger timer

The incandescent rating of a relay is often 1/5 or so of the amperage rating. The reason being that an incandescent lamp is close to a dead short when it is first turned on and it pulls a huge amount of current until it warms up. This turn-on current burns the relay contacts and can weld the contacts shut if the load is high enough.

A relay that can switch a 12A heating load is usually rated for 200W incandescent load.

I don't know the rating of the Patterson's relay, but if the fuse rating is 5A then I would guess they expect a 200W maximum incandescent lamp load and the relay contacts are rated at 10-12 amps.

If you have a 300W+ lamp then you should use a remote contactor - a very heavy duty relay: http://www.mcmaster.com/#general-purpose-relays/=m4xint