I am fairly new to electronics so apologies if this is a fairly simple thing. I have a device that consists of a 12V Power supply, 2 motors, and a mechanical switch. Flip the switch, it completes the circuit, and the motors turn (and vice versa). What I want to do is remove the mechanical switch and somehow have my Arduino turn the other device on and off. I tried Googling for a solution but must of the solutions I have seen have been how to use an Arduino and a physical switch to complete a circuit rather than how to complete it electronically. Can someone please explain to me how I would go about completing the circuit in the secondary device to power it on and/or point me to some documentation that will help explain to me what I am trying to do?
If worse comes to worse I can just hookup a servo or something to flip the switch on and off but I was hoping for something I think would be a little more elegant.
Yeah... A relay is an electrically-operated and electrically-isolated switch. It's the most foolproof way of replacing a manual switch.
The Arduino doesn't put-out enough current to directly-drive a relay coil but there are lots of "relay boards" that have a relay and a driver circuit.
There are solid state relays that can be operated directly from the Arduino but they are a little trickier than a regular (electro-mechanical) relay. And since it's not a simple switch-contact, AC & DC solid state relays are not generally interchangeable.
