airbag switch question

I'm building my own switch box for the bags on the 54 chevy. I am using air ride technologies big red valves. Does anyone know how many amps the switches need to be rated at?

 

dunno bout those particular valves but the switchbox (prefab unit that I'm using till I get my custom one done and plan on reusing the switches) is 10A @ 250V and 20A @ 125V....works fine, your not really pulling a ton of amps on the valves seeing as its so intermittent (IE momentary action)

 

we got switchs by them selves

 

There you have it!

 

Well I have some switches, but they are too big for all 5 to fit in the switchbox how I want. So I'm wondering if I can use the miniature switches that are rated at a little less amperage then the standard size 10 amp ones

 

i've used mini switches, not with the ART stuff, but with different solonoids, they're holding up fine a year later, if you're really worried about it, run the micro switches and put a relay in between the switch and the valve. check on the solonoid on the valve, it should say the amperage draw.

 

Typicaly the pre builts only use 16 to 18 guage wire so the valves arent really pulling any amps.

 

my two pennies.... use relays or switches with ratings you trust. relays are cheap and when a switch burns out, you're stuck in whatever position it left you in. i think most valves are rated at about 10 watts, but not sure what that translates to in amps...

 

just googled it, that's less than one amp i think, so i guess i'll retract my statement!

it'd still make me nervous, but apparently it'd be fine!

 

Yea I had considered relays but I wanted to find out if that was gonna be alot of unnessesary work first. I looked at the solenoid already, it just says 12v no amps

 

10 watts at 12 volts would equal .8333 amps. (volts x amps = watts)


The thing with solenoids though, is they tend to arc on the switch contacts a little as you turn the switch on and off, so you need a better switch than you would for say a light bulb that drew the same amount of current. Kind of similar to turning an electric motor on and off where there's a big surge when it first kicks on and a voltage that kicks back from the coil when the solenoid releases.

Sometimes large switches will have a couple of different types of ratings. X amps at 110V, X amps at 220V, and sometimes they'll say "motor rated for X horsepower, or X amps" since motors tend to burn up switch contacts faster than a fixed load. Usually the motor rating is less than the fixed load rating.

If you have an old amp meter, you could connect it inline with the solenoid to find out how many amps it draws, then just get a switch that's rated a lot higher than what it says and you'll be fine. If you have a battery charger with an amp gauge on it, you could use the battery charger to click the relay and look on the amp gauge on the charger to get a rough idea of how much current they draw.