delay on for 83 mercury vapor

[ecir38]

Any input if this is a good or bad idea would be appreciated, thanks.

Here is what I am thinking about trying out. I had this square d delay on DPDT relay (p# 9050JCK17V20) that was pulled from a old a/c unit and took it apart to check it out. After inspection it is similiar to sophia electic's Power Supply Delay Action Board in their diy parts for sale section http://www.sophiaelectric.com/ except the sqaure d has an adjstable range of .3sec to 30min.

pic


What I thought was nice about this was that I could set it to the min delay for a 5Z3, 30min for first time power up of the 83 and about a minute or two during normal operation of the 83.

Unfortuantly square d's website doesn't provide much info in their pdf but I was able to find the pdf of the actual relay on the pcb. The relay is a song tuan 881-2CC-F-C see link for pdf. http://www.songchuan.com/PPDF/881.PDF

Specs for the contacts: 8A 240vac rated load (resistive), 8a max switching current, 277vac max switching voltage, 1920va max switching capacity. The coil has a 110vdc 4ma rating. These specs are for the relay on the pcb only. The actual specs on squre d case are 120vac coil with 10a 240v contacts.

How I was thinking of hooking this up was to use 120vac mains to energize the coil when amp is turned on. Then use one set of contacts to switch the CT on the secondary of the power tranny that is 380-0-380 and use the other set of contacts to switch a 120vac neon lamp for indication of operation. BTW the amp will be the JE Labs Stereo SE300B. http://members.myactv.net/~je2a3/se300b.htm

I have researched this and have found where others have had success using a amperite delay on tube for the delay on then after it timed out have it switch to a more heavier duty relay to keep the high voltage on. I just don't see where I would have the room to place all of those components in the layout I am looking at. This delay on would use very little room being only the pcb will be used and the case and octal male socket not. I will just drill a hole in the top plate and mount the pot with the knob.

The biggest question is whether the relay on the pcb is sufficient.
Any input would be appreciated, Thanks.
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[lochness]

Personally I've run the heaters for MV rectifiers on their own switch (so I could decide if I wanted them warming for 30 seconds or an hour). I've made automatic delays before and none of them seemed as complicated as the one you have a picture of.

Really I suggest to switch to Xeon rectifiers. They have a purple glow (though not strong), last longer, aren't temperamental about the temperature, don't care about orientation, and have many other advantages over MV. Still if you want the MV rectifier either wire it so that the heater is on its own switch or just copy one of the uncomplicated designs for a delay switch online. It will be cheaper and you can work a tube relay into the design (they're really cool looking).