There can be several reasons for early switching failures:
- Using the wrong switch.
- Not understanding the true nature of the customer’s load. This is usually the biggest culprit. If there are any transient voltages or currents present during the first 50 nanoseconds, they could rapidly cause the contacts to stick. These transients may be from stray capacitance, inductance in the line and/or common mode voltages. Equally important and not to be overlooked is what voltage and current is actually being broken when the contacts open. Any healthy voltage and/or current present will chew up the contacts rapidly leading to sticking contacts.
