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So I was dusting off a pair of 1122 switches and rewired the controller and got them working beautifully, even at 8VAC from my spare RW 110 watt transformer. Here is where things get interesting - I simply had the switches on the ground connected to the transformer with alligator clips. My freshly (and correctly) wired switch controller was in my hand (not mounted). I tested the functionality of the switches and was very happy at my resurrection job, but every so often when switching the switches, I got a reasonable sized jolt of electron juice from the underside of the controller. The controller does have exposed rivet contacts and so now the real question - are these jolts indicative of the voltage spikes that the TVS are recommended to protect against when operating equipment with electronic circuit boards?

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Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:

OTOH, they may indeed be inductive kickback spikes from the switch coils.  Any time you remove voltage from a coil, the collapsing field will generate a voltage spike.  The magnitude of the spike will be dependent on the coil characteristics and the impedance of any components across the coil.

This is more of what I was thinking - now, If I put a TVS between the center rail and ground rail, that would be able to consume the spikes when the switches are thrown preventing the zaps - maybe I should try this experiment later this evening when I get the opportunity.

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