I'm very much in the "learner stage" with the BCS 462 and am looking at 8-16 channel relay board options. There seem to be a few brand and voltage options. Is there a reason to choose 12v over 5v or vise versa, or is it just personal choice? Have the more expensive relays proven to be more reliable, or should I go with what's cheapest? Any specific recommendations? I notice there are high current and low current versions. One last question ... what is the difference between a power relay and a solid state relay, and does it matter?
Thanks,
Tim
BCS relay options
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clearwaterbrewer
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Re: BCS relay options
This is covered many times in this folder, but I will give a quick synopsis:
#1 - you want ones that energize on a high input, not on grounding the input.
#2 - 5/12/24v is really dependent upon what kind of additional power supply you want to add to your panel.
that being said, 12VDC is one you cannot go wrong with for many reasons...
#3 - the ones from 'electronics-salon' seller on eBay seem to be a favorite, and have always worked for me.
#4 - SSR's are electronic relays with no moving parts, and can switch very fast without wearing out.
advantages - no extra power supply needed.
- can switch several times a second to provide partial power to something like a heating element
disadvantages - they generate heat when used at the power level needed for a heating element
- they leak enough current to light an indicator LED if ter is no load (element unplugged)
#5 - "power relay' doe not really define much, but is used commonly for loads 10A or more
If you want 2 heating elements and 2 pumps, and maybe an alarm and maybe a large contactor that is powered by an e-stop circuit...
you could get a 4-8 channel SSR board and 2 40A SSRs with heatsinks and have a fan in your panel...
you could get a 4-8 channel 12v relay board, a 12v power supply, 2 40A SSRs with heatsinks mounted externally but the SSR inside the panel and no fan
(home-made or the auberins.com panel.
if you had a gas burner, you could get a 24VAC transformer, and a 24vac to 12vdc rectifier to ave the AC for the gas valves and the DC for the panel...
find a build on this forum that is most like yours and read their posts 100x
#1 - you want ones that energize on a high input, not on grounding the input.
#2 - 5/12/24v is really dependent upon what kind of additional power supply you want to add to your panel.
that being said, 12VDC is one you cannot go wrong with for many reasons...
#3 - the ones from 'electronics-salon' seller on eBay seem to be a favorite, and have always worked for me.
#4 - SSR's are electronic relays with no moving parts, and can switch very fast without wearing out.
advantages - no extra power supply needed.
- can switch several times a second to provide partial power to something like a heating element
disadvantages - they generate heat when used at the power level needed for a heating element
- they leak enough current to light an indicator LED if ter is no load (element unplugged)
#5 - "power relay' doe not really define much, but is used commonly for loads 10A or more
If you want 2 heating elements and 2 pumps, and maybe an alarm and maybe a large contactor that is powered by an e-stop circuit...
you could get a 4-8 channel SSR board and 2 40A SSRs with heatsinks and have a fan in your panel...
you could get a 4-8 channel 12v relay board, a 12v power supply, 2 40A SSRs with heatsinks mounted externally but the SSR inside the panel and no fan
(home-made or the auberins.com panel.
if you had a gas burner, you could get a 24VAC transformer, and a 24vac to 12vdc rectifier to ave the AC for the gas valves and the DC for the panel...
find a build on this forum that is most like yours and read their posts 100x
Re: BCS relay options
Thanks for the reply! Trust me, I did a LOT of searching for this info in the folder and beyond. What I found was either indirectly related, incomplete, or a bit above my head. Now I understand enough to buy the right board the first time. Thank you for spending the time to lay it out.