Mains voltage transistor switch?

[Louis Bates]

So I would like to control my mains lights with a small voltage from my arduino, would a transistor switch be appropriate and I did a search on 'Mains Transistors' and couldn't find much other than paragraph up on paragraph of how they work.

Alternatively I though of a MOSFET.

So the question is what is the maximum voltage that transistors can handle on the collector and do some have different limits? and which is more appropriate MOSFET or Transistor?

Thanks from Louis

 

[BobK]

Nope. What you want is a solid state relay. These are optically isolated so that the high voltage cannot get into your low voltage circuit, and typically use triacs for AC switching.

Bob

 

[mofy]

Yes use a Solid State relay as bobk says. You could also use your arduino to drive a MOC3020 to drive a triac. Might be cheaper. You could just use a relay.

 

[Louis Bates]

Ok thank you