🚀 go-pugleaf

jg3o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jason Ari Goldstein) writes:
: Hey now,
: 
: The subject pretty much says it all.  I need to switch some light
: switches with TTL signals (I am building a controller for my
: fraternities dance floor lights).  Basically, I have heard you can use
: relays, triacs, etc.  Unfortunately, no one seems to have a circuit
: design to show me.  I would like to use triacs because they are
: non-mechanical and less likely to blow than relays.

I've found that Triacs make a better fuse than a fuse if one of your
lighting circuits happens to short, and Triacs usually fail in the
ON (or shorted) state, so once you fix the short, replace the fuse
(you DO have a fuse, right?) and power on again, you'll find that your
light is on all the time.

: I have seen some
: circuits for using triacs but NONE that showed how I can use TTL logic
: to do the switching.

If you happen to swing by a Radio Shack, pick up their large yellow
book on electronics projects by Forest Mimms III; I believe that there
is an example circuit in there using a triac and an opto-isolator to
make an inexpensive solid-state relay.

mike