Sensor Basics: What is the difference between Normally Open and Normally Closed?
It's Friday! So I'm delivering bad #dadjokes & automation basics while we head into the weekend! Today's basic is: "What is the difference between Normally Open and Normally Closed switching logic for a sensor?"
This one is fairly straight forward but comes up more often than you think! So I always like to relate it to my house, because everyone can typically relate.
Normally Open is when the sensor detects something the sensor "turns on" the signal. Similar to the lights in your house, when you enter a room the lights are off and you flip a switch to say you are present and you want the lights on! They are normally off (the contact inside the switch is open) and then you close the contact to send power to the lights.
Normally Closed is when the sensor detects something the sensor "turns off" the signal. Similar to a circuit breaker in your house, where you want power for your iPad charger and refrigerator to be available all the time and only when there is a problem detected do you want it to turn off the power and open the contact removing power from your fridge.
So that is Normally Open vs Normally Closed. If you have a question about automation that you'd like me to try to answer, leave a comment below!
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