Electronic – Burning out relays when supposed to be within ratings

raspberry pirelaytransistorstroubleshooting

I am using this Normally Closed Relay on a 24V circuit: DataSheet

The circuit is 24VDC source, which I measured the Amperage in series to be 29mA at the highest. I've breadboarded a lower voltage circuit (5V) fine with the relay. When I put the relay into the 24VDC circuit, I am able to open and close the circuit one time, but it burns out the relay: the relay can never be switched open again. I notice when switching it under the 24V load that when I close the switch again, it delays before completing the circuit.

For the switched circuit: I have 24VDC source connected to pin 1 of the Relay, and the rest of the circuit connected to pin 4 which is connected to a the magnetic door lock (and a push to exit button, which may use a capacitor to trigger the 30 second open circuit)

For the switching circuit: I have 5VDC from a Raspberry Pi connected to pin 2. On pin 3, I have it connected to the Collector side of an NPN relay, and the Emitter side is connected to a Ground pin on the Raspberry Pi. I have one of the GPIO pins connected to a 2kΩ resistor, which is then connected to the base of the relay

Reference circuit I used for my circuit is here

Best Answer

If your switched circuit contains some kind of capacitor, motor or tungsten light bulb you could easily be exceeding the contact ratings (500mA maximum) momentarily.

For example, if the load has a capacitor inside, the circuit looks very much like a capacitive discharge welder, with the materials to be welded the contacts in your relay. Once they are welded together, they are damaged and you should discard the relay, though you may be able to free them up temporarily by tapping the relay.

Edit: Switching a door lock solenoid can also cause welding by arcing when the relay drops out or bounces. If the solenoid is less than 500mA (6W) you may be able to make this work by adding a catch diode such as a 1N4004 across the solenoid, but generally this kind of relay is not great for switching relatively heavy loads. You'd be better off to use a power relay or a transistor such as MOSFET (always with the catch diode).