A
I have access to a 325' tower for my remote station, and like to assist the tower owner where possible. The tower lighting is controlled by a light sensitive switch working a relay which actually controls the lights. The relay controller appears to be home made and did have a large open frame relay in it - until the contacts completely disappeared! The actual load from the lights is about 1200w on each of two phases. I replaced the relay with a 30A contactor which I thought was overkill and it was fine for several years, but that is now getting unreliable. Clearly there is a pretty heavy switch on surge with incandescent lamps, but this must be true at all tower sites. What do the professionals do? Could I use a flasher like the one below instead?
http://www.clrwtr.com/PDF/SymCom/SSAC-FS-FA-Series.pdf
http://www.clrwtr.com/PDF/SymCom/SSAC-FS-FA-Series.pdf