Posted by Todd Somers [162.158.79.128] on Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 18:06:05 :
In Reply to: Re: Paging Tom Petroff posted by Marty [162.158.106.117] on Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 16:44:41 :
I remember the push button switches in my grandfathers house where I lived for a few years. He had a 32 volt DC lighting system installed when they became available. The switches were the push button that made a "snap" sound when they operated. The reason for the "snap" is that DC current flow tends to draw an arc if switch contacts open slowly. When Dad build our hew house (where I now live) all of the switches were DC/AC rated and had the snap action. These switches were made for many years. The new quiet wall switches that are rated AC only would arc and burn the contacts rapidly using DC voltage. So if you build a hunting cabin that uses DC voltage and use the NEW switches, you can expect them to fail since DC will destroy them. AC does not tend to draw an arc when used with used with the AC only switch as the alternating current is 60 HZ and the current cycle is constantly from + to - 60 times per second and when the switch is opened (turned off) and the sine wave crosses zero voltage there is no arcing. This assumes that you are using QUALITY switches and not those found loose and not in boxes at the end cap in a big box home center.
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