Arduino relays

So I've seen tutorials on hooking a 3 prong thus 3 wire device to a relay but would like to know hoe to properly wire a 2 prong plug thus 3 wire device to a relay. Please be as detailed as possible. HUGE help thanks!

Her is link to the relay I kit I am using: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11042

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mcb1 over 12 years ago in reply to ntewinkel +1

Here is an even better solution. http://www.shop.wattsclever.com/11-usa-socket BTW the one with the footswitch is switching the mains, so not a lot of use for this application. I wrote about it in the…

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0 Former Member over 12 years ago

First, I absolutely agree with Nico, if you are unsure about what you are doing maybe you should not be doing it. People have died from coming into contact with 120 volts AC. From what you are saying, I understand that you want to use a relay to switch something on and off that has a 2 prong plug instead of a 3 prong plug. The 3rd wire is a ground wire, and is not actually connected to the relay. It would be connected to the box the relay is mounted in to tie the ground together. A relay is essentially just a switch, and a switch in a 120v circuit only connects to the "hot" wire. The neutral wire and the ground wire are just connected to each other. Look at this link about wiring up a light switch to understand http://www.indepthinfo.com/wire-switch/switch-light.shtmlhttp://. If the light bulb is your device, you will see for example, a black wire, a white wire and a green wire. The black wire is the wire that will connect to your relay (which is the switch). The white wire and green wire are just carried on through the box the relay is mounted in. If you were swtiching on something like a fan, they often only have a 2 prong plug. The green ground wire is missing. In that case you would just eliminate that wire from the circuit, the device would still function without it, the device would not be grounded however, and it would be much easier for someone to be shocked by touching the fan under certain conditions.

Good luck, and be careful.
Mike
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0 ntewinkel over 12 years ago in reply to Former Member

Here is a safer solution, at not a bad price: http://www.powerswitchtail.com/Pages/default.aspx
(Not sure if that works with the plugs though)
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0 mcb1 over 12 years ago in reply to ntewinkel

Here is an even better solution.

http://www.shop.wattsclever.com/11-usa-socket

BTW the one with the footswitch is switching the mains, so not a lot of use for this application.

I wrote about it in the Digispark forum, but the concept is the same for Arduino using a 433MHz Tx and the RCSwitch library.

Mark
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0 mcb1 over 12 years ago in reply to ntewinkel

Here is an even better solution.

http://www.shop.wattsclever.com/11-usa-socket

BTW the one with the footswitch is switching the mains, so not a lot of use for this application.

I wrote about it in the Digispark forum, but the concept is the same for Arduino using a 433MHz Tx and the RCSwitch library.

Mark
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