The product reliability generally refers to the operating reliability. It is defined as: the ability of accomplishing the specified function under prescribed conditions and in prescribed time. It consists of intrinsic reliability and application reliability. The intrinsic reliability is determined by product designing and manufacturing technique, and the application reliability is concerned with the correct application of users and the services provided by the manufacturer before and after selling. When using relay, the user should pay attention to the following items.

8.1 Coil applied voltage

   It is best to choose the coil applicative voltage according to the rated voltage in design, or choose the voltage according to the temperature rising curve. Using any coil voltage that is less than the rated voltage will affect the operation of the relay. The coil operating voltage refers to the voltage that is applied between the coil terminals. The voltage value between the two terminals must be guaranteed, especially when using enlargement circuit to energize the coil. Whereas, it will also affect the relay characteristics if the applied voltage exceeds the highest rated voltage. Exorbitant voltage will bring exorbitant coil temperature rising, especially in high temperature ambient. Exorbitant temperature rising will damage the insulating material and affect the working safety of relay. For magnetic latching relay, energizing (or return) pulse width should not less than 3 times of the operating (or return) time, otherwise, the relay would be left on the middle-position state. When using solid-state components to energize the coil, the components dielectric strength must be above 80V, and the leakage of current must be as little as possible to ensure the relay to release.

Energizing power source: Under 110% of the rated current, the adjusting ratio of the power source is less than 10% (or the output impedance is less than 5% of the coil impedance), the wave voltage of the DC power source is less than 5%. The AC wave is sine wave; the waviness coefficient is between 0.95~1.25; wave distortion is within ±10%; the frequency change is within ±1Hz or ±1% of the specified frequency (choosing the bigger value). The output power should not less than coil power consumption.

8.2 Transient suppression：

   At the moment when the coil power is stopped, peak-inverse voltage that is more than 30 times of the coil rated voltage is produced on the coil, which is harmful to the electronic circuit. Generally, the peak-inverse voltage is suppressed by transient suppression （cutting-peak） diode or resistance to limit the peak-inverse voltage within 50V. But the diode in parallel connection will delay 3~5 times of the release time. If the request of the release time is high, a suitable resistance in series can be putted with and at one end of the diode.

8.3 The power supply to relays in parallel connection and series connection

   When several relays in parallel connection are supplied, the relay that the peak-inverse voltage is higher will release power to the relays that the peak-inverse voltage is lower. The release time of the relay will delay. So the relays in parallel connection should be controlled separately to eliminate mutual influence.

   The relays with different coil resistance and power can’t be used in series, otherwise, the relay that the coil current is higher in the series circuit can’t operate reliably. Only the relays of the same specification can be used in series, but the peak-inverse voltage will be increased and the peak-inverse voltage should be suppressed. Resistance in series can be used to bear the part voltage that exceeds the rated voltage of the coil according to the ratio of the divided voltage.

8.4 Contact load

   The load applied to the contacts should be accordant to the rated load and characteristics of the contacts. A load that is not applied according to the rated value range will cause problem. The relay that is only suitable for DC load can’t be used in AC occasions. The relay that can switch 10A load can’t always reliably operate in low level load (less than 10mA×6A) or in dry circuit occasions. The relay that can switch single-phase AC power source isn’t always suitable to switch two single-phase AC loads that aren’t synchronous; the relay that is only specified to switch the load of AC 50Hz（or 60Hz）can’t be used to switch AC load of 400Hz.

8.5 Parallel and series connection of contacts

   The contacts used in parallel connection can’t increase the load current, because the operating times of several sets of contacts are absolutely different; that is to say, there is still only a set of contacts switching the increased load. This would damage or weld the contacts and make the contacts can’t close or open. The parallel connection of the contacts can decrease the misplay of “break”. But the parallel connection of the contacts would increase the misplay of “freezing”. Because the misplay of “break” is the main pattern of invalidation of contacts, the parallel connection can increase the reliability and can be used on the pivotal part of equipments. But the applied voltage should not exceed the highest operating voltage of the coil and should not less than 90% of the rated voltage, otherwise, the coil life and the applicative reliability would be damaged. The series connection of the contacts can increase the load voltage. The amount of the contact sets is equal to the times that the load voltage can be increased. The series connection of contacts can decrease the misplay of “freezing”, but it would increase the misplay of “break”. Anyway, when using redundant technology to increase the operating reliability of contacts, the characteristics and size and the failure mode of load must be considered.

8.6 Switching speed

   The switching speed should not exceed the reciprocal of 10 times of the sum of operating and release time (times/s), otherwise, the contacts can’t switch on steadily. Magnetic latching should be used under the pulse width specified in the technique criterion, or the coil may be damaged.