Looking for a 5PDT or 6PDT sealed relay, 28V, low current contacts

I don't see how using 5-pole relays will ensure that.

A TE / Axicom V23030J1021A106 is 6PDT, 24 VDC coil, silver with gold flash terminals. It is "environmental category of protection RTIII", which is apparently one step below "sealed":

Why do you need it to be sealed? That appears to be the tough part of this spec.

How about sticking a solenoid on top of some regular snap switches ("Micro Switch" style)? Mouser lists several of these style of switches with IP67 ratings. If you get the kind that have holes through the body, they are relatively easy to gang up by stacking them up and using long screws. They probably won't all switch at precisely the same time, if that is important in your application.

You could also stick a solenoid on top of a Honeywell 426EN9-8 switch from Mouser - 6PDT and sealed to MIL-S-8805 symbol 4. They have 9 in stock at the astonishingly low price of US$1,752.08 .

Matt Roberds

Mount a bunch of reed switches in a coil? I.e., the switch contacts are "under glass"...

Quaint! Didn't they make SPDT reeds once? I seem to recall some with two contacts on one end of the glass capsule. Magnet biasing and all was sort of an art. With the right magnet biasing you could even make regular reeds function as normally closed, right? Isn't this a bit too retro, like using 555's? Visions of dozens of raw reed capsules stuck in one great big electromagnetic coil.. Shades of the 1970's...

Don Y wrote

I need changeover contacts. One can get CO reeds but less commonly.

Also I think with a single relay it is less likely for one contact to operate differently to the others.

snipped-for-privacy@att.net wrote

It is for switching signals in a light aircraft. One wants protection from humidity, which *will* get in given the air pressure swings.

The traditional solution in avionics is an old box from e.g. Northern Airborne (RS08 etc) which contains 2 or 3 cheap 4PCO relays and they usually are wired with one contact on each all in series so the stuff being switched can tell if one or more of the relays has failed to move. But these boxes are quite bulky and IMHO badly made and open to corrosion everywhere except inside the relays.

One can get the small 4PCO relays used in the RS08 from IMO/SDS/Panasonic (EN4 or DS4 series) and these are normally sealed. The IMO ones are even nitrogen filled. All these great relays are now discontinued - example

There are other more expensive relays that will do it, but the lead times are silly.

Jasen Betts wrote

There is no way to completely ensure that...

The picture on the Web site looks like a dip switch, so it is misleading. The data sheet is what to examine.

Good find, John.

John S

I don't have an A&P. I don't even have a TG&Y. If your airplane falls out of the sky, I never heard of you. I also don't like buying lawyer food - not even a little bit - so I wish you luck with your project.

Matt Roberds