Controll AC power with arduino and relay

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1

Hello,

I am trying to controll a few light bulbs with my arduino. however my experience with real electrecy isn’t so big, so just want to make sure im not going to burn down my house or ruin my arduino or anything if i connect this.

I tried with a 6v dc adapter as it felt abit safer and i have now connected my board the following way now, and everything work as its supposed to do,

http://i59.tinypic.com/rsvla8.jpg

i can switch the relay on/off, and i can use this for example a small computer fan, but id like to controll more power.

Would it work if i skipped the 6v adapter and connected 220v in the same way?

Is the parts im using enough for this?

The parts i got is all from the inventors kit :

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12060

Relay: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/100

Transistor: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13689

Led: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12062

330 resistor

Im going to have a few lamps thats conected to a power strip, (Total of about 500W) and im not in need of controlling the outlets in the strip one by one, i just need to turn the entire power strip on and off.

Thanks in advance!

2

I can see now that the image got abit scaled. the cables going to the right is connected to arduino 5v, gnd and pin2

3

That relay will very quickly be destroyed if used to switch incandescent lamps. Lamps draw several times more current when cold than when warm.

It is much safer to use a solid state relay. If the SSR input terminals are rated something like 3-30 VDC, then you can connect an Arduino output and ground directly to the input terminals, without a current limiting resistor. See for example http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solid-State-Rel … 1532661317

The safest approach would be to use the Powertail Switch, a computer controlled power strip. Don’t kill yourself messing with household AC wiring! https://www.adafruit.com/products/268