General Purpose Relays

A General Purpose Relay is a simple relay used for switching a large current on or off via the use of a low voltage circuit. This allows for a PLC (programmable logic controller) or other control systems to manage multiple relays and thus operate various higher voltage circuits. General-purpose relays come in normally closed (NC) or normally open (NO) configurations, meaning the circuit is either NC or NO when the circuit is de-energized. Once a low voltage current is passed through the control circuit the contacts will open on a NC relay or close on a NO relay to turn the corresponding higher voltage circuit on or off.