Snubberless triac — what the 800 V / 16 A rating means for your BOM
The ST BTA16-800BWRG is an Alternistor triac in the Snubberless™ series, rated for 800 V off-state voltage and 16 A RMS on-state current. The Snubberless construction means the device commutates inductive loads — motors, solenoids, transformers — without the external RC snubber network that standard triacs need, saving two passives and a board trace per phase.
16 A continuous — sizing the load and the heatsink
At 16 A RMS, the TO-220 package needs a heatsink sized for the junction-to-case thermal resistance; at full load and 125°C junction limit, the thermal budget is tight. The 50 mA gate trigger current (Igt max) and 1.3 V gate trigger voltage (Vgt max) are standard for a 16 A class triac — any microcontroller GPIO with a driver transistor or optocoupler can fire it.
Surge survival — 160 A / 168 A non-repetitive
The non-repetitive surge current rating of 160 A at 50 Hz and 168 A at 60 Hz covers the inrush from incandescent lamp loads, motor starting, and capacitor charging. The 50 mA holding current (Ih max) ensures the triac latches on once triggered and does not drop out prematurely on a lightly loaded inductive circuit.