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TOUCHON/TOUCHOFF RELAY (P)

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AO-powered appliances, suchas lamps,smallhomeappliances, toolsand
otheritems,can be controlledby yourfingertipsusingthis circuit.Also,test
equipment andexperiments can be controlled
by thiscircuit.Youcanturnon
any load by first touchingtime sensorX1, then turn it otf by touchingXl
again.Thereis no shockhazard,as the controlcircuitis completelyisolated
fromthe AC powerline.

The controlcircuitis poweredfrom four or eightAA cells,or, if you prefer,a

powersupplyrangingfrom 6 lo 12 voltsaccordingto the relaycoil.

powersuppliesbecausetheyare not isolatedfrom

Don'tusetransformerless
the AC powerlineand can causesevereshocksand shorts.

The schematicdiagramof theTouchOnffouchOff Relayis givenin Figure 1.

The circuitusestwo lOs.The 555 timerworksas a monostable, producing
one controlpulsewhenthe sensoris touched.The 4013 is a flip-flopthat
controlsthe relayby a transistor.

Components placementon a homemadeprinted-circuit boardis as shownin

Figure2. Componentlayoutshouldbe alteredif the relayusedin the project
is an equivalentof the type indicatedin partslist.

Relaycoil voltageis determinedby the powersupplyvoltageand the load

currentrequirement.Youcan use a mini 1A DPDT(RadioShack275-2491
12V,280ohm,43 mA,andwireit as shownin thefigure,or useanothertype
of relay,dependingon the loadrequirements.

A 10A SPDT mini-relay(RadioShack 275-278)is suitablefor heavyduty

appliances.

As a simplerule,you can use a 6- or 12-voltrelaywith coil currentsranging

from 10 to 100mA andcontactsup to 10A,accordingto the taskyou havein
mind.

Positionsof the polarizedcomponents,suchas the diode,electrolytic

capaci-
tors and transistor,shouldbe observed.

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Figure 1

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Figure 2

Sensorarethe Sameas the'TouchSwitch"pQect describedin this book.

Don't use metallicbox to housethe device,as there are parts connected

directlyto the AC powerline.Be sure that thereare no powerline contacts
withthe lowvoltagecircuitto avoidshocksand dangerousshorts.

The loadis connectedas shownin Figure 3, to be ON whenthe relaycoil is

energized.Youcan also use the normallyclosedcontactsto turn otf a load
whenthe relaycoil is energized.

Rememberthat currentrequirements are highwhenthe relaycoil is ener-

That is
gizedand lowwhenthe transistorQ2 is otf (relaycoil nonenergized).
an importantfactorto considerif you are usingbatteriesto powerthe unit.

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plugthe
Afteryouaresurethatyouhavewiredallpartsofthecircuitcorrectly,
powercordintothewallsocket.
Youcannowtestthecircuit.
Connecta loadto theoutput(relaycontacts) Theload
andtouchthesensor.
shouldbe powered ONif all is OK.

PartsList -Touch On/TouchOff Relay

lC1 - 555 Integratedcircuit- timer

lC2 - 40138CMOSintegratedcircuit- dualflip-flop

Q1,2 - 8C548General-purpose
NPNsilicontransistors

D1 - 1N914General-purpose
silicondiode

K1 - Relay- see text

R1,2, 5 - 100,000ohm,114W,5%
resistors

R3,4 - 47,OOO
ohm,114W,57o
resistors

RO - 1,000ohm,114W,5%
resistor

Cl - 1 uF,25 WVDCelectrolytic
capacitor

C2 - 0.1 uF ceramicor metalfilm capacitor

Cg - 4.7 uF,12 WVDCelectrolytic

capacitor

C4 - 100 uF,16 WVDCelectrolytic

capacitor

S1 - SPSTtoggleor slideswitch

81 - 6 or 12V (accordingto relay)- see text

X1,2 - sensor- seetext

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Figure3

ldeasto ExPlore
Tolearnmoreaboutthe circuitor to get betterperformance:
o Betterperformance can be obtainedby replacingQl with a
suchas a 8C517.
transistor,
Darlington
o A 100,000 ohmpotentiometerplacedbetween thebaseof Q1and
thenegativepoleof thepowersupplywillgivea sensitivity
adjustment
forthecircuit.
as usedin thiscircuit,works,andthefunc-
o Explainhowa flip-flop,
tionof theC3/R5networkin thisproject.Explainwhythecurrentflow-
ingthroughthefingerswhenthesensoris toucheddoesn'tcauseany
shockhazard.
o Depending youcanpoweroN theloadwhen
upontheapplication,
is possible
(toreducepowerconsumption).That
relayis notenergized
usingthe normallyclosedcontactsof the relay.

-
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Scienceprojects uses:
anduncommon
. By connecting a reedswitchbetweenpointsX1 andX2 you can
usethecircuitto detectmovement itemsinexperiments
of mechanical
or projects.
Justatfixa magnetonthe item
moving to actontheswitch.
o Experiments
withanimals withthiscircuitbyusing
canbeconducted
connected
transducers
appropriate X1 andX2.
between
o An LDRcan be usedto controlthe circuitwitha flashof light.A
lantern,
cigarette onor otf.
lighteletc.,canbeusedto turnappliances