I'm playing with a SRD-05VDC-SL-C relay. I can't find a guide for how to hook it up that doesn't use one that is on a circuit board, but I think I have it figured out. Despite that it's clicking but the item that should be activating isn't. Any ideas on how I should troubleshoot?
Try this link..
How to wire up a Songle SRD-05VDC-SL-C relay? - Arduino Forum
regards
Allan
Sounds like the voltage is drooping during the current in the coil when turned on. What are you driving it with? A scope would be good for troubleshooting.
How are you powering it?
What power sources do you have at hand?
Do you know about connecting grounds?
http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/m5/tutorials/relay_tutorial.html that is the guide it leads me too but I don't see the relay I have there anywhere.
KeithRB:
Sounds like the voltage is drooping during the current in the coil when turned on. What are you driving it with? A scope would be good for troubleshooting.
I'm driving a doorbell with a li-ion battery. It works fine if I hook it up directly.
Image:
You mean a 3.7v battery isn't working reliably on a 5V relay? That's odd.
But also, STOP RUNNING IT DIRECTLY FROM THE ARDUINO.
You need to hook up a flyback diode. Every time the relay turns off, all of that energy in the coil has to go somewhere, and going back to your Arduino will kill it.
INTP:
You mean a 3.7v battery isn't working reliably on a 5V relay? That's odd.
Ah I thought that 5v was just the voltage on the VCC side and the other side just functioned as a switch. That might be it.
INTP:
But also, STOP RUNNING IT DIRECTLY FROM THE ARDUINO.You need to hook up a flyback diode. Every time the relay turns off, all of that energy in the coil has to go somewhere, and going back to your Arduino will kill it.
Where do I put the diode?
5V IS the voltage required on the VCC side. The VCC side is what powers the coil. The coil being powered is what switches the switch. 3.7V is on the very low end of 'barely enough to make the switch think about moving'.
Can you please suggest a reference for me to know what all those symbols mean?
They are a diode, resistor and transistor, Just google for electronic symbols or some such then google for controlling a relay with a transistor.
You have to learn this stuff if you plan to tinker with electronics.
1 Like
pillar:
Can you please suggest a reference for me to know what all those symbols mean?
By the way. If it is clicking but not activating your device then you have picked the wrong pair of switch contacts on the relay to use. You want the common and the normally open.
Graynomad:
They are a diode, resistor and transistor, Just google for electronic symbols or some such then google for controlling a relay with a transistor.You have to learn this stuff if you plan to tinker with electronics.
I agree. Back when I first got into electronics, the convention was to learn the maths, learn what the symbols mean and how to read and draw schematic diagrams, and then to start doing practical hands-on electronics.
That was a long time ago, and times have changed, but I still think it's the best only approach. Doing it in the opposite order, (as many newbies seem to do), makes no sense. If you don't know enough to read and understand a schematic diagram, and to draw them, you don't really know enough to successfully build circuits.
pillar:
Can you please suggest a reference for me to know what all those symbols mean?
Here's a couple to get you started:-
How to Read a Schematic
Electrical Symbols & Electronic Symbols
Grumpy_Mike:
By the way. If it is clicking but not activating your device then you have picked the wrong pair of switch contacts on the relay to use. You want the common and the normally open.
Thank you! One additional clarification. In that image what is the dot in the center of the rectangle with a vertical line and why does it not have anything attached to it?
INTP:
5V IS the voltage required on the VCC side. The VCC side is what powers the coil. The coil being powered is what switches the switch. 3.7V is on the very low end of 'barely enough to make the switch think about moving'.
But the way I have mine setup is with 5V on the coil and 3.7V on the relay. This still wont work?
Even the starter's kit that I have been using had 3.3V on the relay side.
The dots are joints between the component's terminals and the connecting wire.
If the relay clicks it means the contacts are opening and closing. It it doesn't work then either the circuit is not wired like you think or the circuit on the contacts side is wrong. Clicking equals working as far as the relay is concerned.
In that image what is the dot in the center of the rectangle with a vertical line and why does it not have anything attached to it?
Most relays have NO (Normally Open) and NC (Normally Closed) connections, in that pic the NC connection is the one on the right and the thing you're referring to is the NO connection. The thick bar at 45 degrees represents the internal leaf contact that flips between the NC and NO when power is applied to the coil.
Below, COM is top center pin, NO is lower right pin, NC is lower left pin
Notice that the same symbol for the relay contacts shown on schematic is conveniently imprinted in the plastic. The COM to NC is shown as being shorted, which is the condition when the relay is off.
Usually the COM and NO terminals would be used to switch the load (doorbell).
Try drawing a circuit or describe how you plan to make connections to the relay contacts, battery and doorbell.
Go watch some animations on how a relay works.
The "schematic funny shapes" for a relay are literally demonstrative of how it works. Spiraly thing gets powered and magnetized, magnetic force pulls bold black line to the left so the bottom end of it moves from the right dot to the left dot. Top point of the bold black line is a pivot.
INTP:
Spiraly thing
I always wondered what they were called. Thanks for enlightening me. 