It's sounds like you're trying for an electronic solution to a simple series of 16 "pulse ON, pulse OFF" latching relays? Where a relay is turned on with an "ON" pulse, then stays ON until it receives an "OFF" pulse, where it remains until the next "ON" pulse occurs.

Several possibilities present themselves: use a "toggle" flip-flop like you suggest, (J and K connected together, Q toggles on clock), The problem with that is one of switch de-bounce. Another solution might be a "D" style register, where Q output remains stable based on the last state clocked into the D input. That solution requires a common clock be applied to "set" the ON/OFF condition of the outputs...which are latched until the next clock cycle. A big advantage of this solution is four, six, or even eight latches can be contained in a single IC. BTW, (an aside) the "D" latch becomes a mono stable "flip-flop" when /Q output is tied to the "D" input and clock cycled.

Due to the size of the relay array, this is most easily resolved with a small microcontroller. Is that a possible solution?

One question, do the relays in your array need to remain in their "last ON" state during a power cycle, or can they simple be reset to "OFF" when the power recycles?

The output of the simulated relay is pretty easy, use a high side switch. These utilize a low logic level input to control a much higher positive source switch, usually a P channel FET. That way, CMOS or TTL level inputs can control high power positive switched loads like lights, motors or "large load" resistive. A simple solution would be to find a high side switch with latching capabilities. (Goggle "high side switch")

So, guess it all starts (as always) with an exact operational definition of your system's input and output requirement?

On 11/30/2024 12:36 AM, SheldonD via groups.io wrote: