Magnetic Latching Relays Magnetic Latching relays require one pulse of coil power to move their contacts in one direction, and another, redirected pulse to move them back. Repeated pulses from the same input have no effect. Magnetic Latching relays are useful in applications where interrupted power should not be able to transition the contacts. Magnetic Latching relays can have either single or dual coils. On a single coil device, the relay will operate in one direction when power is applied with one polarity, and will reset when the polarity is reversed. On a dual coil device, when polarized voltage is applied to the reset coil the contacts will transition. AC controlled magnetic latch relays have single coils that employ steering diodes to differentiate between operate and reset commands.