SparkFun Electronics - Relay Control PCB

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Relay Control PCB

sku: COM-09096

Description: Based on the Controllable Power Outlet Tutorial, this is the bare PCB that allow you to switch high voltages with a simple 0 to 5V GPIO on any microcontroller.

Note: This is only the bare PCB. You must buy the through hole components and solder them to the PCB.

BOM (bill of materials can also be found in the related items below):

1 Relay (COM-00101)
2 1K Resistor (COM-08980)
1 10K Resistor (COM-08374)
1 Diode (COM-08588)
1 Transistor (COM-00521)
1 LED (COM-00528)
1 2-pin Screw Terminal (PRT-08432)
1 3-pin Screw Terminal (PRT-08235)

Documents:

This PCB and parts are really meant for someone with mild experience. If you're uncomfortable soldering or dealing with high voltage, please checkout the PowerSwitch Tail. The PowerSwitch Tail is fully enclosed making it a lot safer.

Pricing

	244 in stock backorder allowed

$3.95	price
$3.56	10-99 (10% off)
$3.16	100+ (20% off)

	quantity

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Comments

17 comments

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	by 33Warlord +7.1 \| Feb 6, 2009 at 3:47pm –0.17
The 3-pin screw terminal referenced in the Bill of Materials is incorrect (PRT-08433). It does not fit this PCB, and the holes (and silkscreen) are for a smaller pitch than 5mm. The 2pin screw terminal does correctly fit the board.

	by 33Warlord +7.1 \| Feb 10, 2009 at 5:06pm +0.15
You can disregard this comment as they have fixed the BOM and it now references the correct part. (Unfortunately I was an early adopter who ordered before this was corrected.) The board works great, though!!!

	by Attie +5.1 \| Sep 25, 2009 at 3:26pm 0
You legends! Ive been after exactly this for some time now. Could I suggest that you link this page from http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorial_info.php?tutorials_id=119 Thanks! :)

	by PhysComp Hobbyist +5.5 \| Jan 7, 2010 at 11:59am 0
Can any electrical engineer out there tell me if these load traces will actually handle 240v @ 15-30Amps like the relay that mounts to it?

	by Crazed Potatoe +1.9 \| Jan 8, 2010 at 9:30am +0.27
Yes! I've been looking for a relay-board just like this. So that I'm able to solder a NPN transistor to the board, and control the relay by 3.3V. This looks like a great product, i can't wait until it arrives in my mailbox! :D

	by PhysComp Hobbyist +5.5 \| Jan 20, 2010 at 11:52am +0.27
I ordered a few of these and they work great EXCEPT the relay footprint vias needs to be moved 1mm to the right and 1mm up to line up with the silkscreen and not crowd the 2-pin load terminals. With the relay mounted the 2-pin screw terminals cannot mount flush to the board, luckily I am soldering in wire instead. Sparkfun, can you fix the footprint or move it on the PCB a tiny bit?

kdegraaf

+1.5

| Feb 3, 2010 at 2:18pm

Here's another vote for lengthening the board to provide more spacing for the relay on both sides. I have some larger SPDT relays (T9AS5D22-5) that fit into the holes, but they block the components on either side.

Maybe you could also look into stocking that particular relay. It's SPDT, which is handy if you need a N/C pin, and it has top-mounted spade terminals for those of us who are squeamish about running high-voltage, high-current AC through PCB traces.

	by rjimenez +3.1 \| May 19, 2010 at 10:36pm 0
You may be able to accomplish this by soldering the resistors, diode and 2-pin screw terminal from the bottom of the board. Judging by the footprint of an T9AS1D22-5 (not exactly the one you have, but similar), this should allow you to use the board fine.

	by marchioa +1.9 \| Feb 22, 2010 at 10:47am 0
My 3.3V micro could not switch this relay as-is. I bypassed R2 (short) and got it working. The better solution might be to increase R1 to 100K (I had no 100K's on hand). Also, if 14 gauge solid conductor barely fits into the 2pin screw terminals (an not very securely). I threw them out and soldered directly to the board.

Kee Nethery

+1.5

| Mar 7, 2010 at 10:35am

To make sure I run the right software on the right Arduino hardware configuration, I have wired the relay to different digital I/O pins on the different prototype shields that I am using.

In setup() I set the relay CTRL digital pin to input and sense whether it is HIGH or LOW. Relay CTRL appears LOW (value of 0) when attached to a relay board and HIGH (value of 1) when not connected to anything.

If the relay is detected, I change the digital pin to output, exit out of setup(), and continue into loop().

Jeff

+2.1

| Mar 24, 2010 at 4:26am

+0.27

PhysComp Hobbyist: Can any electrical engineer out there tell me if these load traces will actually handle 240v @ 15-30Amps like the relay that mounts to it?

Unlikely. The 10A traces my roommate are using on our new LED sign/deathray are .25" wide, but we are going for a huge factor of safety. According the trace width calculator that Advanced Circuits (the board house we frequent), a 283 mil (.283") trace will take 10A assuming a 1 oz/sqft copper layer and 10 degrees C temp rise.

Calculator is located here: http://www.4pcb.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=95

	by Arduino Mega +3.4 \| Apr 7, 2010 at 7:32pm 0
Beautiful. Thank you SO much. Is 10A the safe maximum or should I fuse all of it at something like 8A? I will be running 24 (yes, you read correctly) of these at a time with a modified ATX power supply (and a couple fans) and will need a fuse so I don't blow anything up, obviously.

	by kuhnir +1.7 \| Apr 9, 2010 at 10:19pm +0.27
I wouldn't count on it, since the traces on this board are only about 1/8 inch wide. Going by Jeff's same parameters (1 oz./sq.ft. Cu, 10 degree C rise), the maximum current through these traces would be about 5.5 amps. Pushing 10 amps through them would likely raise the temps by about 40 degrees C.

rjimenez

+3.1

| May 19, 2010 at 10:42pm

I bought one in October last year, when these comments didn't exist and I wasn't wise enough to ask or search - I just assumed the board matched the relay. I ran about 12 amps through it @ 110 VAC. It does get incredibly hot - barely touchable through a plastic enclosure, similar to some older laptop power supplies. Eventually, one of the high-voltage PCB tracks kinda literally blew up (after approximately half an hour daily usage for six months)

djfunk

+1.3

| Jun 12, 2010 at 3:49pm

While researching this part, I read this comment and started to get a little discouraged. I'm looking at using some of these to control a blower motor in a car. Basically, just removing the mechanical switch and replacing with a uControlled relay setup (complete with uber cool illuminated push buttons!).

But, an idea popped into my head: remove the traces and just solder to the relay's contacts. In my uneducated mind, this would work. I've been out of electronics "hacking" since high school (10+ years), and have recently started working the muscles again.

So, can anyone shed some light on this? Would removing the traces allow you to use the full capacity of the relay? Or are there some other pitfalls I'm not thinking about? I was thinking about hot glueing the relay to the board to keep it in place...

	by djfunk +1.3 \| Jun 12, 2010 at 6:06pm 0
Just looked at the pictures again. Guess I decided to overlook the fact that the traces are under layers. :( But, guess you can still just hook up to the contacts and not use the traced leads... It'll look better than just globbing it all in a line.