Pulse relay driven by MCU needed

[r-evil-s]

I have the following project:

I have a zigbee node with an MCU and I must make it control an AC (240V - 50Hz) light. I was thinking of implementing a dimming function as well. I found out about triacs on the net but it seems a bit hard to me since I am a total n00b in this area. Therefore, I decided to have only an ON/OFF function. My plan is to simply drive a pulse relay with the MCU, but I am lost concerning the choice of the appropriate relay... I am looking for a pulse relay which is instantly triggered by the MCU and remains ON until it is triggered again to go off in order to achieve the minimum energy consumption. I think it must be called "pulse latching relay".

I found **broken link removed** but it is not the one I need since it is non latching.

Any suggestions?

Thanx in advance for any answers.

P.S. If you have any ideas of also including the dimming function, please let me know.

 

[amdkicksass]

I think your are correct in that you need a latching type relay but i dont think many relays can be controlled directly using a digital pulse output. In order to do that you will need to have the pulse output drive a transistor and have that drive the relay.

pete