I have a arduino mini pro configured for a game and would like to control a 120 v smoke machine with a relay. What part number on sparksfun would be my best choice? Just need it to make a connection for 2-4 seconds at a time.
You haven’t said what current your smoke machine might draw. That’s important. If you’re switching on/off every few seconds, a SSR makes sense. If 8A is enough, look at this …
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10684
Count on adding an enclosure and some connectors or buy something like this …
I threw a meter on the smoke machine and found the following:
While heating the main unit draws 115-118 v at 5.5 amps and 614-631 Watts.
Once heated the watts and amps drop to almost nothing . Pressing the button on the remote cause the meter to jump less than a 1/4 watt (voltage is 115-118 at the switch).
The project is to close the circuit for 2-3 seconds every time the piezo senses vibration. Currently, only lights strobe with vibration and the smoke machine is triggered from a pressure switch when a bean bag strikes the surface of the game.
This turned out to be unreliable last year, which is why I want to use a relay switch of some sort to close the loop on the switch.
Is the SSR still the best choice in this case?
Before I knew how to drive an SSR, I used a servo and a heavy duty light switch connected with a short chunk of rod and a small hole drilled thru the flipper of the switch.
Worked for me. Used it to turn on the car’s block heater out in the garage.
I still don't know how often your smoke machine will have to turn on. From the current, SSR option #1 above seems a bit weak but option #2 should be OK. But if the smoke machine is only on a few sec every minute then a relay is still a good choice. You're unlikely to wear it's 100k cycles out too quickly.tamray:
While heating the main unit draws 115-118 v at 5.5 amps and 614-631 Watts.Once heated the watts and amps drop to almost nothing . Pressing the button on the remote cause the meter to jump less than a 1/4 watt (voltage is 115-118 at the switch).
The project is to close the circuit for 2-3 seconds every time the piezo senses vibration. Currently, only lights strobe with vibration and the smoke machine is triggered from a pressure switch when a bean bag strikes the surface of the game.
I used an undocumented worker from Central America. His job was to flip the heater switch on when (!only!) it got cold enough. He got to live there w/his heat. I even gave him indoor plumbing. zskimask:
Before I knew how to drive an SSR, I used a servo and a heavy duty light switch connected with a short chunk of rod and a small hole drilled thru the flipper of the switch.Worked for me. Used it to turn on the car’s block heater out in the garage.