Relays - need a short lesson on these..

[btphoto]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I'm very limited as to my knowledge of electronics, lol!

I have an idea that involves small 12 volt light bulbs, like what was used in dashboards of a car. I want to have them flash on and off to the beat of music triggered by a lower voltage source. I was thinking a relay switch that is triggered by low voltage, say 1.5 volts or so.

My question is do the relay switches I would need exist and how long will the relays last?

 

[Superduper]

Interesting but most relays trigger using far more than 1.5 volts. More like 5 to 12 volts. Here are some other reasons NOT to use relays for this application:

The relays would click upon activation.
The life would not be as durable as other methods of flashing the lamps since the contacts deteriorate with each flash of the lamp.
The relays, if being triggered by a low voltage low current trigger, would need to be driven by a "driver" such as a suitably spec'd transistor.
The relays aren't as fast as other forms of trigger.

As for car lamps, keep in mind that incandescents are slow to light up and slow to cool down. In other words, they are slow. LED's are much faster, especially when it comes to responding to fast transients and they consume far less current. Therefore, they make far better candidates for sound activated lighting projects, even if large clusters are needed to produce the same effect.

To sum it up, semiconductor triggers and drivers are the way to go.

 

[btphoto]

To sum it up, semiconductor triggers and drivers are the way to go.

Ok thanks! This saved me a lot of time and some cash as well, lol

Now I have to just go and learn more about semiconductor triggers and drivers, lol