Expand my relay knowledge.

[FiguringOutLife]

I'm looking to expand my knowledge of relays. Specifically at this point in time, how to know what relay I need for what job.
An example for the moment is an industrial dust extraction system that I'd like to switch on and off with an esp microcontroller (5v).
Anyone willing to enlighten me?

 

[marconi]

Dear FiguringOutLife, thank you for your post. I see that no-one has answered it so far which caught my eye. Relays are an interesting topic and their is much educational material available on-line on them and how to use them. I am from an industrial background. I suspect the reason why no-one in this forum has responded so far is that designing equipment for use in industry is technically and legally very demanding and I note you are a 'DIY' member. 'DIY' plus 'Industry' equals zero for good reasons.

Perhaps you have technical qualifications but you have not mentioned them. Maybe then say some more about your application and introduce us to your competency.

Your post is rather like me asking say a surgeon 'what kind of knife I need to buy to remove a mole from my wife's neck'.

 

[FiguringOutLife]

Dear FiguringOutLife, thank you for your post. I see that no-one has answered it so far which caught my eye. Relays are an interesting topic and their is much educational material available on-line on them and how to use them. I am from an industrial background. I suspect the reason why no-one in this forum has responded so far is that designing equipment for use in industry is technically and legally very demanding and I note you are a 'DIY' member. 'DIY' plus 'Industry' equals zero for good reasons.

Perhaps you have technical qualifications but you have not mentioned them. Maybe then say some more about your application and introduce us to your competency.

Your post is rather like me asking say a surgeon 'what kind of knife I need to buy to remove a mole from my wife's neck'.

You've definitely got a solid point there.
I am entirely a DIYer and any electrical project I do is solely for personal use.

That being said, I'm always interested in learning about new things(even what scalpal a doctor would use to remove a mole)
I feel quite confident in isolating electrical cuircuts and swapping out/installing things like switches/relays but trust me when I say I'd never open an industrial machine to tamper with the internal electrics.
If I were to build a system it would be a stand alone plug and play type deal.

Hope this helps with your reservations about me potentially killing myself

It feels more like yabbering though

 

[brianmoooore]

To answer your original question, you would probably need a small relay operating a bigger one. The microcontroller would close a small single pole relay, which would apply current to the coil of a larger, probably 3 pole relay, normally referred to as a contactor.

 

[James]

Other options may be a solid state relay, they will require a much smaller current from your microcontroller .

 

[FiguringOutLife]

Right. So possibly either a solid state relay or a small relay to operate a larger relay.