I know its basically a switch but can anyone explain it more and tell me why you would or wouldn't want or need one?

You want one so that you do not have to run all of the power through the switch. For stuff like a CB you dont need one, but for lights, OBA, ect... you do.

oh ok, how is it bad for switches, are they not made for it

what it a relay will do is take the low amps that is used in the switch (to turn off and on) and will let you use high amps that the lights or what ever will need to run.

alright thanks for the help

A relay is essentially a remote control heavy duty switch. It allows you to use relatively low power to switch on/off a high amperage switch (the relay). It's what allows us to run very small wires to switches that control very heavy amperage devices.

For example, most 30A relays only need about 1/10th of an amp to activate. So the switch and wiring that controls that relay can be very small and simple. The relay that it controls on the other hand can activate/control a circuit that can carry, in this case, up to 30 amps.

Look at it this way, without relays, we wouldn't be able to light up cities. They are also what allows us to remotely control many, many industrial and infrastructure devices, like trains, reactors, power transformers, draw-bridges, etc.

And now back to our show...

-G