Determining if DowKey Coil is AC or DC ?

[k1jos]

Hi,

I have a heavy duty Dowkey that looks in great shape but the coil markings have worn off.  Whats the best method to determine if the coil is DC or AC besides trial and error?

thanks
jerry

[n2bc]

Not sure what "heavy Duty" means... I have a SPDT 110VAC dow key, coil measures 3090 Ohms.  Don't have a DC coil for comparison.

[WA2ONK]

I have three 110vac DowKey relays here. I measured between 440-320 ohms for those. I have two 12vdc DowKeys, they measure 44 ohms and 65 ohms. All are SPDT.

Chuck...wa2onk

[N2DTS]

I would variac ac voltage to it and see what it does.
You can tell the voltage and if its ac or dc.

[n2bc]

My earlier post station 3090 ohms.  Excuse fuzzy eyeballs, should read 310 ohms,

My thanks to Chuck

[flintstone mop]

I would variac ac voltage to it and see what it does.
You can tell the voltage and if its ac or dc.

Really good idea. If the coil is designed for DC and you apply AC it will buzz.
There was a trick that makes a DC coil operate with AC..something about a shader core on top of the coil.
It seems that the transfer relays used 'back in the day' were AC operated.
Fred