Yet Another 616 thread...this time with relays

[gundamaniac]

I've got a question for those of you who've tried 5v relays to control LEDs with the joe jedi.

I want to run my joe jedi off of 4 NiMH batts, which would give me 4.8v. Since I'm extremely noobish when dealing with such complicated and confuzzling things like that new-fangled eckeltrisity...would that be enough to trip a 5v relay? I know that fresh off the charger, the batts would give off more like 5.1v or something...but what's bothering me is once the voltage drops off to 4.8v, does the relay switch off?

[Arm on Fire]

Relays usually have a usable voltage range listed in thier specs, if you find a particular relay that falls in that range, be sure to share the love. :)

[gundamaniac]

So let's say I found a relay listed as a "5VDC/1A" relay...and in its specs it lists:
Maximum switching power of 10 (watt/VA)
Maximum switching voltage of 60 VDC, 120VAC
Maximum switching current of 0.5 A
Maximum initial contact resistance of 150m ohms

So does that mean that anything in the range of 5v-60v will trip the relay? And does that mean that 4.8v won't trip it?

[cannibal869]

I think I got a similar relay from radio shack that I posted in a different thread (the one with the saber in my sig, Morcrist)...

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=6936&highlight=morcrist

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062480

If I remember correctly, the minimum voltage required to trip it was 3.5V
I was running it with 4.5V (3AAA) batteries with the Hasbro toy board. It trips the relay just fine. The relay does make quite the audible click with it trips though..