Is there such a thing? I would like to use an optical switch to turn LED's on and off. My circuit should run between 3-6 VDC and a little over 1 amp. Problem is that this is solar powered and I can't afford a power robbing relay.
I'm a novice at both electronics and forums. thanks a bunch.

 

Yes. It's called a "solid state relay".

Google it and see if that is what you have in mind. Come back with any further questions. You might be better off just using a power MOSFET instead.

 

Thanks for the response. I already goggled Solid state relay and all I found were heavy duty industrial units and one requiring higher voltage. I didn't know what a Mosfet was but after researching this for a few minutes it sounds like the way to go. I'm confused because it seems a Mosfet is the same as a solid state relay or actually is one.

Thanks again, conrad

 

If by optical switch, you mean opto-isolator, you can just drive an LED directly from the device. No need for a relay or FET driver.

 

You are confusing a "relay" with a "switch". All you need is a transistor to act as a switch.

 

................................
I'm confused because it seems a Mosfet is the same as a solid state relay or actually is one.

A commercial solid-state relay generally contains an optical isolator at the input which drives either a triac (to control AC) or a MOSFET (to control DC). Thus a MOSFET is only part of one type of solid-state relay.

 

Thanks for the help, only problem I have here is as I posted before 'I'm a novice at both electronics and forums'. Currently I have 7 solar powered circuits that run a total of 396 LED's in my gazebo(wish I could show a picture, it's pretty cool because the LED's are just pocking through 1x2 wooden boards). I would like to run all of these on one circuit. I have a solar panel, batteries and I built voltage regulator adjustable between 1.2 - 20 VDC. Now I need to build a watchmacallit that turns it on at dusk and off at dawn. I think I can build that little unit except it will only be capable for 200 Ma. I need it to be capable of 1.2 amps. Therefore the relay. Should I forget about this and return to my other hobbies?
Thanks again.

 

A small mechanical relay would suffice for your project. A Raido Shack special will do. Drive it with a small low side transistor 'switch' such as a 2n3904 or a small MOSFET. This is really very simple, no need to give up on it.

 

found a 3VDC relay with a current draw of 27Ma(was hoping for zero). I really did want to run this string with 3 volts. So all is good.