how many light bulb for one relay?

Question

i've just done this tutorial: http://www.arduino.cc/es_old/Tutoriales/Rele

it works great! i've done it in a breadboard (with two 5v circuits for test) and then soldered (for just does not have 220v on a breadboard) and it works well for 1 light.

now i need more lights and i thought to make a relè for switch on/off a multiple adapter.

the thing i want to know: the pin of the relay are thin (just all other 5v-breadboard-based component) and i thought that more volts you have more bigger have to be the wire.. how many normal 220v ac light bulb can i control with one relay?

Answer 1

The wire/pin thickness is not relevant to voltage, but to current. But even a 16 A relay will have thin pins, so that shouldn't be a problem.

What is something to take into account is that incandescent lamps cause a high inrush current, due to the fact that their resistance is low when they're cold. That inrush current may be as high as 10 \$\times\$ the nominal value. For instance, a 60 W bulb will draw 60 W/220 V \$\approx\$ 250 mA. Inrush current will be 2.5 A, then a 10 A relay will only switch four(*) 60 W bulbs, instead of the forty one might expect.

(*) Strictly speaking even only three, if you take a 10 % tolerance on the mains voltage into account