When people build systems that automatically turn on and off light bulbs and other mains-powered devices, they typically use a microcontroller to decide when to turn things on and off.
Alas, microcontrollers cannot be directly connected to mains power.
So these people typically build a system to allow the microcontroller to indirectly turn on and off the light bulbs:
First, the microcontroller turns on (or off) a small LED inside an optoisolator, when turns on (or off) the silicon switch inside the optoisolator, which turns on (or off) a triac.
The triac acts just like a light switch, turning on (or off) the light bulbs or other mains-powered devices attached to it.
The MOC3011 triac driver optoisolator is often used in such applications.
Copyright © 2026 eLLeNow.com All Rights Reserved.
