Relay trigger when voltage above 13v

Thread Starter

bigjoncoop

Joined Feb 1, 2019
204
Trying to create a simple circuit that will trigger a relay only when the monitored voltage is above 13v.
(the output voltage of the circuit is not important. Just needs to be 0v when the monitored voltage is below 13v)

I was able to find a couple of threads here on allaboutcircuits, but there was no clear answer in the end...

I was originally thinking of using a LM386 and a TL431 as a voltage reference since I have alot of these components. But was unable to find a detailed schematic on how to do so...

Specs:
Monitored Voltage Range: 12v - 14.6v
Trigger Voltage: ≥13v
Output voltage to control relay: Not Important
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
38,316
Below is the LTspice sim of a circuit using a TL431 with a PNP transistor to drive the relay:

R4 provides about a half volt of hysteresis so the relay doesn't chatter at the trip point.

With the R2 and R3 values shown, the relay (yellow trace) pulls in at a battery voltage of 13.19V and drops out at 12.67V (green trace).
R2 or R3 can be changed to adjust the trip point (trips at the Ref voltage of 2.5V)

1714408161072.png
 
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