Controlling lights with Galaxy RIO

[totoro]

Evening, i'm just looking for a little bit of advice on this set up and perhaps some suggestions why it's not working.

 

We have a rather large site with multiple RIOs and have been asked to set it up so that it controls the external lights.  Our electricians have set up the lighting itself and have placed two 12v Finder relays in the RIO which are connected to the lighting control circuit.  The idea is that one relay brings on roadway lights when the system is unset, lighting up the route into the complex, and the second relay is to turn on all the external lights in the event of an intruder activation.

 

My boss had wired the relays into the RIO by giving each relay a 12v feed from the RIO then taking the 0v for the relays from each output.  Those outputs were then programmed as Unset - to turn on roadway lights and Strobe - to turn on all external lights.

 

I guess my first question is should this set up work?  

 

I fiddled with this set up because it didn't really seem to be doing what i expected, i altered polarities, messed with output mode etc.   I'm fairly new to this side of Galaxy systems so it was a bit of trial and error.  I've been back there today because the client reported the lights weren't coming on.  I decided to alter the wiring so that the outputs are supplying 12v to the relays and their 0v is from the Aux 0v in the RIO.  When testing the outputs via the keypad the relays were doing nothing at all.  Thought it was a polarity issue, changed that setting, still nothing.  With the relays still connected i metered the outputs (between the output terminal and 0v) and found them going from 0v to approximately 1v when turned on via the test menu.  I then disconnected the relays and metered again, the outputs worked perfectly.

 

It seems to me that the relays are knackered and i can only assume that is my fault but thinking about it i'm really not sure how i've managed to damage them.

 

Am i correct in thinking that the relays are damaged or am i missing something here?

 

I should mention that a few weeks ago when i first looked at this i was unaware of two things 1) When altering output settings you then need to come all the way out of the menu before those settings take effect, causing me to **** with polarities then wonder why the hell nothing was changing and 2) a Neg output sits at 0v and goes positive, not the other way around.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[GalaxyGuy]

The outputs will sink to 0v when the transistors are switched on. Depending on the collector pull up, they may float or pull up when the output is off.  So, you need to connect one side of the relay to the output and the other side of the relay to +12v.

 

What part number of relay are you using? It may be that the output cannot drive them. Sometimes best to use an opto isolated type, as then no issues with back EMF. It may be easier to just use Honeywell's relay board as an intermediate to switch your bigger relays. I do this to fire bigger 12v contactors on bus bars.

[aissecur]

If heavy loads are being switched you could use the relay to switch on a contactor

 

[emmalaur]

I was looking for something along those lines for myself and found a 12v   2 channel arduino relay online at the link below , It has a jumper for high or low level trigger  with a trigger current of 5mA 

there are 4 ,8, and 12 way boards also if you need more outputs

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-12V-2-Channel-Relay-Module-with-Optocoupler-H-L-Level-Triger-for-Arduino-E1W9/123316846044?epid=2215872635&hash=item1cb641bddc:g:TrwAAOSwAwtbdrUF