WORKING WITH RELAYS

SparkFun’s newest tutorial shows you exactly how to work with relays. A relay is an electrically operated switch. In this case, they’re utilizing it to switch a 120V AC outlet. The short article brings the basic warnings about exactly how not to kill yourself with AC (plus some non sequitor linking throughout). As an additional precaution, they selected a GFI outlet. You most likely understand exactly how a relay works, however it’s worth seeing exactly how they implemented it. They utilize a transistor to avoid overloading the microcontroller’s GPIO pin. The manage pin is pulled to ground to keep the relay off. A diode is put across the relay coil to handle the power flow when it discharges. An sign LED is included to show when the relay closes. This is a fantastic foundation for an automation project, or perhaps you just want to terrorize your cat.