[Elecraft] Life span for the relays in Elecraft products.

[w1ie at jetbroadband.com]

GM All,

 

Not long ago, I sent a request in to the Mothership support center asking
about the MTBF for the relays in the K3 and KAT500 ( and possibly all of the
Elecraft products). Doug's response back was to send me the manufacture's
part numbers of three types of relays. He suggested that I could easily
looked up the datasheets on the internet and obtain the information I would
need. Having now the part numbers; 

 

1.	Panasonic  AGN2104H
2.	Omron  G6E-134P-ST-US-DC12   and   G6K-2P-DC5

 

This is what I found. The number of mechanical and electrical cycles, for
the most part, is generally a minimum of 100 million cycles mechanical and
slightly less in electrical. These values were calculated at the rate of
36,000 times per hour. 

 

So rest easy, if you were ever concerned about the clicking and clacking and
what it might be doing to the quality of the relays. They will probably out
last the K3 and certainly you.

 

 

Best regards and stay safe,

 

Jerry, W1IE