I had never really thought about this, but I am starting to understand now. My experience with low voltage relays and the capacity of a transformer is primarily in AC environments where all of the figuring is done on paper using the manufacturer specs. relay/contactor hold VA * quantity ≤ XF VA * 0.824 V nominal would be the usual supply to run a 24 V relay from, because even with a tolerance of +/- 20%, and some voltage drops, the voltage would always be over 18 V
Ive never had to factor in whether my voltage would be sufficient because I always oversize the XF by as much as is cost effective
This is where my plan started to go off the railsPeople tend to look at AC and DC the same. e.g. 24 VAC and 24 VDC. They are not
A great summation of the source of my confusion. my electrical experience is much greater than my electronic experience. While the basic idea of both is the same, there are vastly different principals and practices between themThat depends on your particular point of view - the whole idea of specifying as RMS means they ARE the same - for many purposes, such as heating and lighting. It's really an 'electrical' specification rather than an 'electronic' one.
Attached is the updated schematic as I have the board now.