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'fraid not, Matt...running any device for a period of time won't change it's total current draw...time will determine the total energy used.

Hang on, if you operate a 5A device for 1 minute then you'll use .083Ah, whereas if you operate it for 1 hour you'll draw 5Ah, correct? Therefor total current drawn will increase with the period of operation, if I'm right? I think we both meant more or less the same thing there, I just got my terminology wrong.

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A capacitive load will initially draw more current at turn on, an inductive load will draw less. Since a resistor is a phase linear device...

Doesn't a simple press button counts as a capacitive device during initial contact due to contact bounce? Which would mean even in this simple DC device there'd be a higher peak current drawn when it's first started? Or have I got it completely turned around? I may have been getting confused with the "inrush current" thing from when I did a little project making a halogen dive light and had to include a current limiting circuit to reduce bulb failure. I'm certainly no expert, just a hobbyist and just as likely to be wrong. However I still maintain that installing a relay in this case is so simple & cheap that there's no reason NOT to do it.

Matt Electronic mods for TBA/SM!