There are a few words in the electrical engineering lexicon that will perk any hardware hacker’s ears. The first of course is “Nixie tubes” with their warm cold war era ambiance and nostalgia inducing ...

Ladder logic uses switch or relay contacts to implement Boolean expressions. In years past, ladder logic was made possible with discrete relays and was sometimes termed “relay logic.” Today most ...

Here’s a really fascinating circuit that implements a combination lock using relays and logic gates. Even with the schematic and written explanation of how it works we’re still left somewhat in the ...

An overview of the hardware and software components of PLCs and their programming languages. A programmable logic controller (PLC) is an industrial solid-state computer that monitors inputs and ...

Long before tubes and semiconductors became the main active components in digital circuitry, relays were used for highly sophisticated control of electronic systems. Today’s retro-engineering and ...

Relays usually are driven using optocouplers, which offer isolation between analog and digital grounds to ensure that switching currents in the relay coils do not affect the noise margin of the ...

High demand for programmable logic controllers and smart relays hasn’t sidelined the simple relay, which has become essential in aiding and protecting motion-control systems. This file type includes ...

The PuffinPLC Project is an effort to produce a Linux-based GNU Public Licensed Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). PLCs were developed in the 1960s to replace the complex electrical relay circuits ...