Triac Problem

[travailen]

I thought I remeber something about  a Triac thread but cannot seem to find it so I am starting another thread.

My LEv5 came with BTA06-600t Triacs
The LEv5 BOM specifies BTA06-600s

Is there a differece?  I have replaces some triacs on my LEv5 and the 600s seem to have a short life. I switched the channels around to see if that was the problem but the 600s is still not reliable.

I noticed that the gate and holding currents are different between the two but, I don't think that should matter.

Just wondering.

RIck S

[rrowan]

I have a question for everyone with Triac problems

When soldering the triac to the board are you increasing the temp of the iron and letting it get to the higher temp?

With a triac you want to quickly solder it and not heat it up.

Cheers

Rick R.

[travailen]

That is a fair question. All my LE boards (9 total) were built using the same method and same iron. It is a temp controled iron so I know it is not getting TOO hot. Early triac failures were my own fault and I used the 600s BOM triac for replacements. Anyway, I ordered some 600T this morning and will have them tomorrow. We will see if that helps.

Thanks for reminding us to be careful and watch the iron temp. when doing assembly.

Rick S

[rrowan]

I think you misunderstood me

You want the iron hotter when doing triacs. You want to quickly solder them in and get off of it.

A cooler iron or doing it at normal temp will take longer to heat the solder and cook the triac causing possible failures of the triac

Hot and fast is better than cooler and longer


Rick R.

[rrowan]

This what RJ stated in the Express manual Step 6 Triacs

NOTE #1: Do not be afraid to turn your irons up really high to solder the triacs middle leg. I do it last and crank my iron from the normal 330 - 340 C to 390 C to do these. Put the iron on the side of the power trace to isolate the lead and solder it.

Cheers

Rick R.

[travailen]

OK, thanks for clearing that up for me.  I will check the iron setting

Rick S