Switch Question

[SilverRhino]

I have never been happy with the switch set up in our BC for the "Scare", porch, ceilint fan and overhead interior lights. I planned on moving the overhead light and ceiling fan switches out of the cabinet and onto the wall below the cabinet.

The other part of the mod was going to be setting up each of the scare lights and the porch light each on a seperate switch.

In order to complete this mod I had planned on using a dual bank and a triple bank of 120 v paddle switches. These are the type where the double or triple will fit in a single gang box.

The other day I ran across something on the internet that mentioned that 120 v AC switches should NOT be used for 12 v DC current. I asked a couple of electricians and they just shrugged and said it should work. Counter man at our local Grainger store said that it would work, but not for long, said the DC would quickly destroy the AC switch because of arcing????

Does anyone have any experience with this type of electrical issue? Am I just being anal and making an issue where one does not really exist?

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

 

[cookie]

I am no sparky, but I would not hesitate to use those switches. Worse case is you will have to replace them when, if, they burn out.

Peace
Dave

 

[GOTTOYS]

I would use them in a heartbeat. 120 volt switches are made a lot heavier than most of those cheesy little 12 volt switches you see....Don

 

[caissiel]

AC switch will hold 15 Amps x 120 Volts or 1800 Watts.
DC switch will hold 30 Amps x 12 Volts or 360 Watts. Some much less to if only rated 15Amps.
There seam to be a good margine of safety for arching to me.

 

[Willym]

The AC switches will work fine, they are usually good for at least 15A. The wattage of the circuit is not important. Current is what causes heating across any switch resistance and determines how much arcing will occur when the current flow is interrupted. For the same current, you might get a little more arcing with DC over AC, but for RV applications, lighting circuit currents are never very high, and the AC switch will be OK.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Use the AC switches. They work just fine in a RV.

 

[SilverRhino]

Thanks for all the input.....Everyone seems to follow my original thinking! Love the information on the Forum ...... Will go ahead with mods as originally planned