Choosing | Protection diodes | Reed relays | Advantages & disadvantages
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Current flowing through the coil of the relay creates a magnetic field which attracts a lever and changes the switch contacts. The coil current can be on or off so relays have two switch positions and most have double throw (changeover) switch contacts as shown in the diagram.
Circuit symbol
Relays allow one circuit to switch a second circuit which can be completely separate from the first. For example a low voltage battery circuit can use a relay to switch a 230V AC mains circuit. There is no electrical connection inside the relay between the two circuits, the link is magnetic and mechanical.
The coil of a relay passes a relatively large current, typically 30mA for a 12V relay, but it can be as much as 100mA for relays designed to operate from lower voltages. Most ICs cannot provide this current and a transistor is usually used to amplify the small IC current to the larger value required for the relay coil. The maximum output current for the popular 555 timer IC is 200mA, enough to supply a relay coil directly.
Relays are usuallly SPDT or DPDT but they can have many more sets of switch contacts, for example relays with 4 sets of changeover contacts are readily available. For further information about switch contacts and the terms used to describe them please see the page on switches.
The animated picture shows a working relay with its coil and switch contacts. You can see a lever on the left being attracted by magnetism when the coil is switched on. This lever moves the switch contacts. There is one set of contacts (SPDT) in the foreground and another behind them, making the relay DPDT.
Relay showing coil and switch contacts
The supplier's catalogue or website should show the relay's connections. The coil will usually be obvious and it may be connected either way round. Relay coils produce brief high voltage 'spikes' when they are switched off and this can destroy transistors and ICs in the circuit. To prevent damage you must connect a protection diode across the relay coil.
Most relays are designed for PCB mounting but you can solder wires directly to the pins providing you take care to avoid melting the plastic case of the relay.
The relay's switch connections are usually labelled COM, NC and NO:
Connect to COM and NO if you want the switched circuit to be on when the relay coil is on.
Connect to COM and NC if you want the switched circuit to be on when the relay coil is off.
You need to consider several features when choosing a relay:
| Relay coil current = | supply voltage |
| coil resistance |
For example: A 12V supply relay with a coil resistance of 400Ω passes a current of 30mA. This is OK for a 555 timer IC (maximum output current 200mA), but it is too much for most ICs and they will require a transistor to amplify the current.
Rapid Electronics: relays
Transistors and ICs must be protected from the brief high voltage produced when a relay coil is switched off. The diagram shows how a signal diode (eg 1N4148) is connected 'backwards' across the relay coil to provide this protection.
Current flowing through a relay coil creates a magnetic field which collapses suddenly when the current is switched off. The sudden collapse of the magnetic field induces a brief high voltage across the relay coil which is very likely to damage transistors and ICs. The protection diode allows the induced voltage to drive a brief current through the coil (and diode) so the magnetic field dies away quickly rather than instantly. This prevents the induced voltage becoming high enough to cause damage to transistors and ICs.
Protection diode for a relay
Rapid Electronics: 1N4148 diode
Reed relays consist of a coil surrounding a reed switch. Reed switches are normally operated with a magnet, but in a reed relay current flows through the coil to create a magnetic field and close the reed switch.
Reed relays generally have higher coil resistances than standard relays (1000Ω for example) and a wide range of supply voltages (9-20V for example). They are capable of switching much more rapidly than standard relays, up to several hundred times per second; but they can only switch low currents (500mA maximum for example).
The reed relay shown will plug into a standard 14-pin DIL socket ('IC holder').
Rapid Electronics: reed relays
Photograph © Rapid Electronics
Like relays, transistors can be used as an electrically operated switch. For switching small DC currents (< 1A) at low voltage they are usually a better choice than a relay. However, transistors cannot switch AC (such as mains electricity) and in simple circuits they are not usually a good choice for switching large currents (> 5A). In these cases a relay will be needed, but note that a low power transistor may still be needed to switch the current for the relay's coil.
The main advantages and disadvantages of relays are listed below:
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