Thread: relay boards

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hey guys,

got a question...

what im trying to do for my haunt next year is get everything either triggerable with motion sensors or wireless remotes.

right now, i have 3 picaboos and 1 nerve center. and 2 motion sensors.
now what im thinking is if i get this relay board i can make this wireless


http://www.dinodirect.com/Compact-Wi...html#mycarttip


basically what im trying to achieve is trigger the other 2 controllers i have with this board.

why do i want a board with 12 relays and not just 2... well im hoping that i can split them up, so make maybe 4 of the relays, "triggers"

so id essentially just wire 2 wires, one running from common to positive, and the N/O running to the negative on the picaboos trigger inputs...

then i can use the other 8 relays and wire them straight to 1 light, or solenoid... so they wont actually trigger the controllers, they will control anything that is 110 vac

so basically what my question is, do the relays on this board act like a light switch, switching power on and off, or are they ones that actually supply power... the same voltage that the board is supplied by.

confused?

watch this video and you might understand what im asking, go to 1:45


http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&fe...&v=WBgQL-sHBh4


so if ANYONE on this forum can understand what the hell im talking about, that will be much appreciated.

The relay contacts are all labeled as NC, COM and NO (normally closed, common and normally open) so to answer you question is that the relays will just act as a light switch. They do not supply power they'll just close or open a circuit.

So you could use them to trigger another controller of turn power on and off for other equipment. Of course you'll have to supply the power.

Started this hours ago, but had to take the fidget to fao shwartz

Relays are similar to switches, but they have 2 sides, the activation side and the switching side.
This isolates the power that controls the relay, from the power the relay can control.
When power hits the activation side the switch side is triggered flips the 'switch' (power is on or off).
in this picture

A control power runs the receiver/decoder/chipset and the supply power as needed for each relay to operate.
As a relay is triggered, power is sent to the coil in the relay via 1 and 2.

On the other side of the relay, is the coil, an electromagnet, which moves a contact plate.
The plate, either makes contact or releases contact from poles in the relay, refered to as normally closed (nc) completing a circuit and allowing power to pass, which is B-C in the image, or normally open (no) breaking the circuit and preventing power from passing which is A-C in the image.

With something like the picoboo you can power the reciever and provide the activation of the the relay contacts on this board.
However, you will only use one of the picoboos to supply the power to it.

Normally, that is just to provide juice to the reciever and relay activation side.
With the picoboo, the power to trigger the device is also supplied on the terminals.
This is not a typical configuration for many controllers trigger inputs.
It is also a very low current capacity (fine for this device).

You will still need to suppply power for the control side,, which is whatever other device you want to run via the relay (switch) side

The device you are looking at shows spec of 10 amps 14vdc/240ac
That is more than enough for most devices, lights, etc, until you get into something such as the 1000watt and larger fog machines or similar devices.
Most of the time you want to turn something on, so you will connect to A and C in the diagram above.
This will be inline.
Like this

To answer the question, the relay supplies no power on the switch side of any of the relays.
You will need to do that similar to above.

I often have manual switches to make effects happen when I deem is the best time to make certain things happen, such as the patrons looking at or away from the device I am switching "On" for max, effect.
The beauty about a low voltage switches going to a relay is that running the switch wires are smaller wires and I put more than one switch in more than one location so I can make the device turn on from opposite ends of the same room, fooling repeat customers who would like to mess with those switches the second time they come through the house.