I'm working on interfacing a PLC to an existing machine that's full of rela
ys. I got to thinking that it would be a real time saver if I had a relay b
reakout board of sorts. What I'm picturing is a relay base (in this case an
8 pin rectangular that plugs into an 11 pin socket) that breaks out into s
crew terminals.
The effect would be like piggybacking another socket on top of the original
. That would allow pre-wiring a lot of stuff and minimizing downtime, as we
ll as making the modifications easily reversible.
So, does such a device exist?
I'm working on interfacing a PLC to an existing machine that's full of
relays. I got to thinking that it would be a real time saver if I had a
relay breakout board of sorts. What I'm picturing is a relay base (in this
case an 8 pin rectangular that plugs into an 11 pin socket) that breaks out
into screw terminals.
The effect would be like piggybacking another socket on top of the original.
That would allow pre-wiring a lot of stuff and minimizing downtime, as well
as making the modifications easily reversible.
So, does such a device exist?
They shure do exist.
hmm. Maybe I didn't explain very well. The existing relays are already in e
xisting sockets. I am looking for a device that can plug into the already e
xisting sockets and provide a new set of screw terminals for me to connect
to, so that I can make my connections without disturbing the existing wirin
g.
Also, the sockets in question are rectangular, not round. Like these:
A bit of work... buy the socket you linked to and a relay to fit it. An
old defunct relay would probably be fine. Cut off the workings from the
relay but retain some connections to solder/attach wires to. Basically
make a short extender cable :)
...
Nah, you explained well; the respondent didn't read well or jumped to a
conclusion too quickly...
...
Agree on the usefulness; no, I haven't seen the device.
I'd suggest contacting IDEC if that's the actual product and see what
they say...issue against there being one would likely be just the
holddown and reliability issue that they wouldn't want to have with the
interposing part so can guess it never would have made production even
if somebody in engineering had the thought.
But the unasked question... :)
Yup. Screw-terminal sockets for certain common relay sizes definitely do
exist, I have some here for 2 stypes of "ice cube" relays. Not exactly sure
what you are looking for in this piggyback thing, but to just plug an ice
cube relay into a socket and have everything connected by screw terminals,
you should be able to find those.
Jon
The existing relays are already in
OK, you want to REMOVE the relays, and have something with screw terminals
that plug in IN PLACE OF the relays? No, I can't think of something quite
like that, off the shelf. Those relay sockets look like they take 1/4" or
maybe smaller spade terminals, so you can get crimp-type male spade
terminals and wire them to terminals strips. So, you could make such an
adaptor.
Jon
...
...
Nope; the "piggyback thing" is precisely that; a pass thru socket that
would provide a second parallel set of contacts independent in
connection point to the originals so he can leave present wiring intact
and add additional for test/upgrade w/o interfering with present
operation. He's already got a screw terminal base...
Safer, both for the relay socket and pinouts, to take the base of an
old relay and wire out to a terminal block, I'd think. It would
eliminate plug-in errors entirely, once made and rechecked.
-
The list of Obama administration disappointments
would take three rolls of toilet paper to record.
--BMF
Larry, you've got the right idea, except I don't want to MAKE this, I want a source to BUY it. For the current project, I need 20 of them, and I hope I'll need many more in the future.
I have sent an inquiry to a manufacturer (
formatting link
) who sells just the headers and also the sockets. If I don't hear back soon, I'll give them a call.
They do use the smaller 0.187" terminals, and I have considered just crimpi
ng terminals on my wires and plugging them directly into the sockets rather
than crimping ferrules onto my wires (I try to always do that for neatness
& reliability) and putting them under screw terminals. That would be a che
aper, almost no-parts solution. It's a problem, though, if I want to put mo
re than one wire on a terminal.
Correct. I do a lot of this kind of work, and these relays are very common in older equipment. Pulling out the relays leaves a very tempting place to interface the new controls without ripping out existing wiring.
lays. I got to thinking that it would be a real time saver if I had a relay
breakout board of sorts. What I'm picturing is a relay base (in this case
an 8 pin rectangular that plugs into an 11 pin socket) that breaks out into
screw terminals.
al. That would allow pre-wiring a lot of stuff and minimizing downtime, as
well as making the modifications easily reversible.
Further to the discussion, back in the day, I used to use devices like this
formatting link
in my test fixtures. This was a "socket saver" meant
to protect the socket from repeated insertions and retractions, while prov
iding convenient points to probe the connections.
Something like that with the correct socket configuration and larger tabs w
ith screw terminals or even just plain tabs to accept .250" faston connecto
rs would be great. Would even need the second set of socket receptacles, th
ough that would be a bonus.
Perhaps the tabs wouldn't have to come out of the periphery, the could just
be .250 (or probably easier, .187) faston tabs where the socket receptacle
s would be. Sort of a male-male relay adapter.
relays. I got to thinking that it would be a real time saver if I had a rel
ay breakout board of sorts. What I'm picturing is a relay base (in this cas
e an 8 pin rectangular that plugs into an 11 pin socket) that breaks out in
to screw terminals.
inal. That would allow pre-wiring a lot of stuff and minimizing downtime, a
s well as making the modifications easily reversible.
No, not like this. What you suggested is a relay socket - I really thought
I had made it clear that I'm looking for something that will plug into an a
lready existing relay socket, and bring the connections out to screw termin
als.
For the third, fourth or fifth time: I work on lots of machines that have c
abinets loaded with this sort of relay socket (with relays plugged in). I u
pgrade these machines by adding PLCs in place of the relays. It would be a
good thing if I had the ability to just plug my wiring into the already exi
sting relay sockets.
Therefore, I'm looking for either a male plug shaped like the relay base th
at would plug into the socket you linked to and provide a duplicate set of
screw terminals; or even better, a socket with the female terminals (and sc
rew terminals) on top and male terminals (like on a relay) on the bottom so
that the device could plug int the existing socket , provide an extra set
of screw terminals AND optionally have a relay plugged into it. So it sould
sandwich between the original socket and the original relay.
I'm not sure how to describe it any more clearly.
No, not like this. What you suggested is a relay socket - I really
thought I had made it clear that I'm looking for something that will
plug into an already existing relay socket, and bring the connections
out to screw terminals.
For the third, fourth or fifth time: I work on lots of machines that
have cabinets loaded with this sort of relay socket (with relays
plugged in). I upgrade these machines by adding PLCs in place of the
relays. It would be a good thing if I had the ability to just plug my
wiring into the already existing relay sockets.
Therefore, I'm looking for either a male plug shaped like the relay
base that would plug into the socket you linked to and provide a
duplicate set of screw terminals; or even better, a socket with the
female terminals (and screw terminals) on top and male terminals (like
on a relay) on the bottom so that the device could plug int the
existing socket , provide an extra set of screw terminals AND
optionally have a relay plugged into it. So it sould sandwich between
the original socket and the original relay.
I'm not sure how to describe it any more clearly.
================
Similar in concept to this?
If you have enough of a requirement for them, it would not be terribly
expensive to have a couple hundred PC boards made up to accept pc
board terminal blocks like:
formatting link
to connect your wires to, and PC mount blade type power connectors
like
formatting link
arranged to fit the relay socket. I've had similar boards made up,
populated with the correct terminals for something like $10 - $15 each
in quantities of 100 about thirty years ago. The ones I had made were
to convert the connections of an odd-ball CD RON drive to accept a
standard cable connector.
Make up a few hundred and sell them to your competition - - - -
Which base configuration? If it is a standard OCTAL base there used to
be breakout test plugs for tubes that would do the job. They had
either binding posts or fahnstock clips on them. Haven't seen them for
YEARS but they used to be readily available from what I remember from
my days fooling around with old tube radios. One of the mailorder
places I used to deal with carried them, I think.
Not difficult to have something custom made in reasonable quantities
at a decent price today.
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