Any advice on a little situation i have please. I have an Optima plus 2 control panel which has a set output that is negative when unset so i have 12v across set o/p & aux 12v. I connect a 12v relay which is provided by the company i work for and the voltage drops to 9.6v but still works. My question is will this damage the output over time and can anyone recommend a way to correct this please?

Where is the relay being powered from?

Where is the relay being powered from?

Neg - set o/p

pos - aux 12v

Where is the relay being powered from?

The set output is probably via an onboard 1k resistor, the load imposed by the relay is causing the voltage drop.

As long as it works it should be fine.

What is the coil resistance of the relay?

Personally I wouldn't want to allow that sort of voltage drop to occur on the panel - can you use a seperate 12-volt power supply via a relay module which can be triggered by the panel but not powered by it?

Any advice on a little situation i have please. I have an Optima plus 2 control panel which has a set output that is negative when unset so i have 12v across set o/p & aux 12v. I connect a 12v relay which is provided by the company i work for and the voltage drops to 9.6v but still works. My question is will this damage the output over time and can anyone recommend a way to correct this please?

What Roger has said. That panel will not like that happening to it for long.

What Roger has said. That panel will not like that happening to it for long.

I disagree, the set output is a logic output and not designed to drive any real load which is why it is supplied via a resitor.

If in doubt measure the current being drawn by the relay, that is the only way of telling whether or not there is a problem.

Another method is to tempoarily connect the relay across the aux output, if it drops the volatge of that I would be a little worried.

Bearing in mind that the Optima Plus2 is an obsolete panel and therefore unlikely to be replaceable, personally I'd rather not risk frying it just for the cost of a psu.

I disagree, the set output is a logic output and not designed to drive any real load which is why it is supplied via a resitor.

If in doubt measure the current being drawn by the relay, that is the only way of telling whether or not there is a problem.

Another method is to tempoarily connect the relay across the aux output, if it drops the volatge of that I would be a little worried.

Optimas had voltage problems in my experience, hence swaying away from a old panel no longer supported being used in this way.

Thank for the replies. Think i will look at the psu option.