A search of the boards show quite a few posts over the years of people wanting to drive relays with most recommendations being to add on some ULN 280x for the increased current drive and built in transient protection. For a hobbyist or someone in a one off lab setting, plopping a 2803 down and soldering the wires on a protoboard this isn't that big of a deal, but in a situation that needs a bit more polish you're now looking at a board design and manufacture and if I am already looking at a situation where I want a some type of a DIO device so I can use LabVIEW I'd really love to be able to connect it directly to the relays I want to drive. I'm looking at an NI 9472, cost wise it is very reasonable but I think at a minimum I need reverse transient protection if I want to drive a 24VDC/40mA relay coil and that is an extra component that has to be put in a BOM, tracked for procurement, and placed in a drawing. It's..frustrating.
