The simple rule for any mains switching is that if you don't know what you are doing then do not do it.
How best and most safely do mains switching depends on a number of factors; what's being switched, what mains voltage, what load, what type of load, load operating characteristics and a number of other factors.
As for ringing the church bells - what would the circuit be controlling ? I assume there's some electro-mechanical device which will go between any PICAXE circuit and the bells.
When you say "old system", how old? Are parts obsolete? It may be that you can easily "renovate" the system, whole scale replacing the "mechanical" parts of the system, to make it reliable again.A friend of mine is having problems with keeping church bells ringing primarily becuse it uses an old system of relays ,solinoids, turrets, push pins rolling drums etc. I would like to design a Picaxe 18X based system.
When you say "old system", how old? Are parts obsolete? It may be that you can easily "renovate" the system, whole scale replacing the "mechanical" parts of the system, to make it reliable again.
It might be worth considering renovating the bell "interface" of relays and solinoids and only using the PICaxe to replace the push pin rolling drum - I presume this is a "music box" style controller to play a repetative peel.
The renovation could allow you to choose a relay coil voltage that can be interfaced easily, while keeping the solinoid voltages on the contact side of the circuit.
Given the number of cycles a relay can perform, it's not un reasonable to consider like for like changes.
best regards,
colin
That's because there's so much more to a mains circuit than just the diagram.literature and websites seem to be reluctant to give info re mains interface