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[on:]

I have a few relays that I've salvaged from appliance control boards.  The electrical specs look good (12vdc coil, switch supports up to 20A@230vac), but the legs on the bottom are TINY.  I want to control an air compressor (owner's manual calls for a 15A branch circuit, so my relay should work, right?) but the wires on the compressor itself are much larger than these little pins on my relays. 

1. Am I missing something?  Why are the pins so small?

2. How do I attach the tiny pin to giant stranded wire? (12ga, I think.  I'll check on that.)  The pins are flat, so I don't think they'll fit into a perfboard. 

Tim

[Reply #1 on:]

OK, forget the air compressor then.  I have lots of other small 110vac motors I'd like to control (in the 2-3A range).  So in the case that the relay is sufficient for the load- how would I attach the wires? 

If I can't find a way to mount the relay by its legs, I'm OK with just soldering wires onto the pins.  I have just never seen a writeup on how to do this properly. 

Thanks for reading.  I think I have a 24vac transformer and contactor out of an HVAC unit, I can rig it up to run the compressor if need be. 

[Reply #2 on:]

That's perfect, thanks!  I'll post a writeup on my project when it's reasonably ready.

Tim