Relay Help

[Guest guest]

I needed a relay for my snow machines and after searching the forums for detailed
instructions, I came up empty. There is alot of good information here, but it is kind of scattered through different posts.
I received an email from someone asking if I found out how to wire the relay..and I did.
I thought other people may want this info as well so I made an illustration of how I did it and some instructions...
Keep in mind I am NOT an electrical genius and this may or may not be the best way to do this.






I bought the relay from Radio Shack, the part number is listed above. You will also need clamp on terminal connectors or a soldering iron to attach the wires to the terminals.
A hot glue gun and electrical tape would be advisable too.....

The relay above is a double throw, double pole type (all they had at the correct voltage). This means you can actually wire up two devices, or have an on and off state... (more on relays here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay)

The diagram above shows the most common application. When the LOR channel energizes the relay the relay activates the high amperage device connected to it.
The relay is a simple switch, this means no fades, etc.. Only on or off.

Cut an extension cord in half to make the power lead, and attach it to the two verticle terminals(7 and 8) on the bottom of the relay. These supply power to the coil that activates the switch in the relay. You can use clamp on terminal connetors or solder here.
Strip back the outside sleeve of another heavy extension cord. This will be the power cord to your high power device. Be sure you do not cut or nick any of the wires inside the cord.
Expose the black wire in the cord and cut it. Strip the ends of the cut wire and attach them to the 3 & 5 terminals on the relay.

Cover all of the terminals you used with hot glue or silicone to semi-waterproof them and to give them a bit of strength. You can tape all of the wires up after that....

Thats it... quick and dirty, but you should have the basics of it now.... I have added a string of lights between the LOR controller channel and the relay to act as a buffer of sorts.. I'm not 100% that I need this, but its not hurting anything....

Hope this helps someone else!

[Guest guest]

Great Post !

I had to do the exact same thing so the LOR controller could turn on
the amplifier for the outdoor speakers. The only difference is that I used
a 12V relay and a wall-wart to drive it. It all fit in a small plastic Radio Shack
case.

Tim

[Guest guest]

Oh my gawsh -- I'm never going to post one of my crudely drawn schematics ever again -- that's just beautiful! I'm so embarassed. :happytree:

-Tim

P.S. You think I'm kidding? Look at the schematic on the bottom of this page: http://www.plymouthlights.com/x10.htm

[Guest guest]

LOL.. No worries... I do illustration/multimedia for a living so I needed to do something decent to give back to this forum.

[Guest guest]

Anim8 wrote:

LOL.. No worries... I do illustration/multimedia for a living so I needed to do something decent to give back to this forum.

So, do you do that all freehand, or do you have a large collection of clip-art? Combination of both?

Wow, I'm impressed.

-Tim

[Guest guest]

So, do you do that all freehand, or do you have a large collection of clip-art? Combination of both? Wow, I'm impressed.

Thanks!!

Its mostly 3D models actually. I modeled the parts, added 3 lights, created some simple materials and rendered it out. I added the text in Photoshop. The whole thing took less than an hour.

http://www.pruittdigital.com/images/stories/commercial/relay.swf

[Guest guest]

Anim8 wrote:

Thanks!!

Its mostly 3D models actually. I modeled the parts, added 3 lights, created some simple materials and rendered it out. I added the text in Photoshop. The whole thing took less than an hour.

Okay ... now your just showing off!