lucas01230 wrote:
I was cleaning up in the shop it's pretty cold to do much. Saw this piece laying around. Looked it up on digikey said it was a thermal relay. I think the thing came from some window air conditioner.
Anyway, I popped(smashed) it open to get some brass out and noticed this magnetic metal.
I've seen it before but I usually toss it into steel. Looks more than just a piece of steel i especially in a relay.
These are bimetal switches that cut power to the compressor if it gets too hot! They expand when they get hot enough, and cut power to the compressor if it's hot enough, not sure what they are made of though