Mercury relays? (UPDATED: Pics post #20)

Originally Posted by scrappinred

i have a lot of boards with relays, but i have no idea how to know if they are mercury or not. I look forward to anyone posting pics and identification details...


I have a lot of relays that look like this:



...and i think they are not mercury... ?

gotta love those with the silver buttons. I saved a bunch of those and ones in blue and black boxes. At least i believe those are silver buttons you can clip off.

Originally Posted by TheRecycleGuy

gotta love those with the silver buttons. I saved a bunch of those and ones in blue and black boxes. At least i believe those are silver buttons you can clip off.

I set up an old bench grinder with water on the wheel just like a lapidary grinder inside an old drawer to catch the crap coming off the contacts, just break the reeds off then grind the contact off save the dust. Since the dust coming off is wet it stays in the bottom of the drawer to be collected later.

You will find that most of the contacts are heavily plated and not a solid silver alloy.

Originally Posted by ScrappinRed

I have a lot of boards with relays, but I have no idea how to know if they are mercury or not. I look forward to anyone posting pics and identification details...

I have a lot of relays that look like this:



...and I think they are not mercury... ?

No mercury in this type of relay, most have silver alloy bonded onto the contact face while those used in sever elements for example Thermo King truck reefers or from relays used in a PLC ( programmable logic controller ) used in a harsh environment would have gold alloy bonded onto the face of the contacts.

PLC Logic Board, these come in may different arrangements and styles,