Trace width for a 15A mains line..

[ram_86]

Hi,

I'm a beginner in PCB designing and am designing a circuit for automation system. I would like to know what is the optimum trace width for a 15A (240V) mains line.

Also, I'm using Eagle CAD to design the boards... can I continue with this or should I learn a new tool?
 

[wraper]

Depends on allowed temperature rise, copper thickness, ground planes, layer count...
http://www.saturnpcb.com/pcb_toolkit.htm

[ram_86]

Thank you...
Also does the outer coating on the traces make any difference?
coz there is some kind of strange behavior in two main lines...
When one line is switched on and the other is off, the off line starts to flicker.... btw I'm using Triacs to switch mains...is this the problem of Triac or the Trace width and clearing...(current trace width is 50mils and clearing between each line is around 50mils).

[T3sl4co1l]

That's nearly sufficient to fuse 15A, and definitely not enough to handle it for any length of time...

Flickering is not something a strip of thin copper will exhibit.

Tim

[SeanB]

Triac problem is that you need either better triacs that do not need snubbers across them or you need the snubbers and preferably the series choke and class X capacitors to reduce line noise. That is straight from most application notes, and is typically 10-100n 250VAC class X in series with a 2R2 to 10R 1W fusible resistor across the triac, preferably with a MOV across both input to neutral and output to neutral to clamp spikes.

[ram_86]

The circuit already consists of a snubber... but I have used common HOT line for all the Triacs and I think that is the cause of the false trigger of Triac when one of the triac is switched...does adding MOVs and seperating the HOT lines solves the problem?