I'd guess that the
inrush current is causing the problem.
I'm not a lighting guy, so I don't have specific experience with lights on
SSR's, but I've used
SSR's on motors (where there are inrush issues also). On motors, 3X seems to do the trick... but this may not be enough for some incandescents. If you really want to get to the bottom of this, you need to determine the inrush event with the lights you're using, and then look carefully at the
SSR data sheet. They normally give you the number of AC cycles that the
SSR can deliver higher
current than the continuous
rating. Also, not all
SSR's (with the same
rating) are the same.. some have higher instantaneous
current ratings than others.
Here's a couple of technical references discussing
inrush current on
incandescent lamps:
“When an
incandescent lamp is initially turned on, the cold
filament is at minimum resistance and will normally allow a 10X to 12X peak
current. Within 3 to 5ms the
current falls to approximately 2X the hot
current”
(source):
http://www.allegromicro.com/en/Products/Design/an/an295012.pdf
“The electrical resistance of the
tungsten filament at room temperature is initially quite low. When electrical
power is first applied to the lamp, a large in-rush
current causes rapid heating of the
filament. The resistance of the
filament rises to a value five to ten times the cold resistance, which causes the amount of
current drawn by the lamp to stabilize and the lamp to emit a stable light output. Depending on the size of the
filament, the in-rush period can be from tens of milliseconds to hundreds of milliseconds. This in-rush
current requirement should be taken into account in the selection of the
power source for a specific lamp application.”
(source):
Tungsten Filament Lamps — International Light Technologies
“The reduced resistance of a cold
bulb results in larger
current draw when it is first powered; called "in-rush
current". The
filament color temperature (Kelvin) at which the lamp is designed to operate determines the
inrush current. A 300'K lamp will have an
inrush current about the same as its operating
current, but a 2,500'K lamp will draw about 12 times the
current when cold. Most lamps will heat to normal
current ratings in approximately 30-100 milliseconds.”
(source):
Incandescent Lighting