How many remote controls do you have in your home? Don’t you wish all these things were better integrated somehow, or that you could add remote control functionality to a random device? It’s a common ...

Fig. 1: Add this relay to prevent shorted transistors in the MW-1. Usually after a transmitter is discontinued, any hope of upgrades or improvements fades. Some enterprising engineers can’t help but ...

For switching high-powered loads from a microcontroller, or for switching AC loads in general, most of us will reach into the ...

Relays usually are driven using optocouplers, which offer isolation between analog and digital grounds to ensure that switching currents in the relay coils do not affect the noise margin of the ...

I recently installed a new stereo head-unit in my car. One of the challenges with installing this head-unit was that a certain wire from the harness needed to be grounded, but only after the radio had ...

This Design Idea shows how to use a 63¢ (Q=1) microprocessor reset voltage detector IC in a relay coil drive circuit to greatly reduce the coil’s hold-in current. When asked to estimate the coil ...

Last week I explained how to use a motion sensor to trigger an event with an Arduino. The event we triggered was a simple blinking of an LED. You can do a lot with a bunch of LEDs if you use your ...

Electronic relays have evolved a lot since their introduction in the early '30s, but their basic purpose hasn't changed. Transistors and integrated circuits have replaced vacuum tubes and the term ...

Relays have enabled low-voltage signals to control high-voltage systems since before the invention of the transistor. With very low on-resistance, the venerable electromechanical relay (EMR) still ...

In electronic and industrial automation systems, relay modules play a crucial role by allowing low-power control signals to switch high-power devices. Selecting between a 5V relay module and a 12V ...