Some of the tools made in China are actually getting better. There was a time when you could buy a wrench at harbor freight and bend it loosening a 3/8 hex bolt. It seems like they've addressed the quality issues somewhat.

Sorry for the delay getting back, but the contacts fail every few months. They physically look fine but must be getting arced up inside.

Just for conversation, do you use solder wick or a solder sucker more often? Is wick or the solder sucker better? Or do you see uses for each?

I have played around with both and sometimes the wick seems to work better than other times. i would prefer it if the solder wick worked all the time.

What are the cheapest cube relays? And do you guys see a difference in cube relays from brand to brand. I've seen them as high as 25 dollars for an 11 pin cube relay and as cheap as 12 dollars.

Anyone have experience with Joslyn Clark from Lancaster, SC. I've got N.O. contacts that repeatedly fail. I'm wondering if anyone sees this or if it is problem with the application. They are auxiliary contacts that mount to the side of a DC contactor.

Question about photo electric switch reflectors

Does it matter if I use a special reflector from the manufacturer or is something as simple as a bicycle reflector good enough? They are cheap anyway, but I'm just wondering if there are differences.

Thanks!

In closing, here's a couple of parts numbers if you were looking to duplicate this deign: I got the Red Lion CUB5T from our local Red Lion distributor but the rest of the parts came from mcmaster.com.

• Magnet with M4 mounting hole: 5819K52
• Type J thermocouple with a 3/16 hole: 3648K22
• Clear Heat shrink: 7586K14

Cheller,
That did it, it is reading temperature accurately now. Here's what i came up with:



I used a magnet with a metric threaded hole that i got from McMaster for another application. I screwed the thermocouple to the magnet and I coated the bottom of the magnet with electrical tape. I also covered the braided wire with heat shrink tubing and it works great.

I'm still not sure why it worked for a while, but the probelm seems to be resolved. Thanks!

OK, here's an update... If I unscrew the thermocouple from the motor and hang it in mid-air, it reads the air temperature just fine. As soon as I touch it back to the metal surface of the motor, the reading goes from positive to negative and then bounces back and forth like it's confused.

To be more specific, I am using a Red Lion CUB5TC Thermocouple Meter with an optional single relay card inserted to trigger a fault on the plc. The thermocouple is a Type J with a #10 eye hole that I screwed to the surface of the motor. I am trying to create a redundant temperature monitor for this motor since it is located in an out-of-the-way place.

The thermocouple is located about 50 feet from the Red Lion meter and this setup worked for a while before i started having problems. Not sure where this is going but I just thought it might be a grounding issue.

Anyone have experience troubleshooting a thermocouple ground loop. I installed a surface mount thermocouple on a motor surface to monitor overall temperature. I coupled it to a basic Red Lion readout and it worked fine.

About two weeks into its life, it started acting strange. The temperature reading started going from positive to negative and back again. I replaced the thermocouple with a new one and it did the same thing.

I then replaced the Red Lion readout with another one I had in stock. The problem remained. So i don't understand but it seems as though a ground loop has been created or something. I never heard of thermocouples getting noise.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to troubleshoot a thermocouple ground loop?