Quote Originally Posted by Bony View Post
It's always interesting to read your posts Marv, thanks for sharing. No doubt your relay was conceived and constructed some time ago and what was had to then be done to remotely control a power point.

In the interests of assisting others with a need for remote switching another alternative nowadays of course is to use an inexpensive radio controlled remote switch which may be found in electronics stores and online.
Thanks for the kind words, Bony. Much appreciated.

Yes, I was aware of commercial remotely controlled switches when I built this. In fact, I had one of the earlier ones, built to control external Xmas lights, in use in the house to control an awkwardly placed light fixture.

A very great many of the ideas shown on this forum could be replaced with commercially available items. There aren't many problems that can't be solved by throwing money at them. It's best to view the forum as an idea fountain demonstrating how people solved a problem with available material, not necessarily in the most economical way. The focus should be to get you thinking about design features that could be used for your particular application

For instance, some takeaway points for my remote controller are...

Low voltage, parallel input capability so a number of simple low current switches could each could be used to control a large current. (I've never seen a commercial RC unit with a foot switch.)

Since a relay is used, the unit could easily be modified to control a large DC current.

The low voltage needed to close the relay could be supplied by batteries, thus making the entire unit independent of the mains.

In the event of a failure, a socketed relay is easier to replace than components on a circuit board.


I'm sure many folks who read my post would think, "Gosh, he could replace that honking relay with a triac triggered with his reed switch arrangement." They would be correct. In fact that's exactly how the light controller box, also homemade, in my bedroom is wired. (The noise of the relay clicking would have woken my wife.)