Someone was asking recently about switching electric motors on and
off using the iCubeX output...
The outputs can only source 30mA each (according to the digitizer
manual), which isn't enough for motors.
I've *finally* managed to try out a small cheap reed relay, similar to
the SWITCH actuator sold by infusion. The one I used has a coil
resistance of 500 ohms, so at 5V that's 10mA.
Worked fine switching an LED on and off in a test circuit... I see no
reason why it shouldn't switch fairly heavy loads but I don't have any
motors or anything to hand to test it with.
The relay I used is part # JH12N from Maplin (
http://www.maplin.co.uk),
which cost me 99 pence. Its max rated load is 1A @ 100V (cf. 200V, 1A
for infusion's), so it won't switch mains equipment, but will cope with
pretty much anything else.
Hope this helps.
Chris
