Please don't take this the wrong way, but I would venture to guess that
if you have to ask this question, then you need to use an optoisolator
and also take as many other precautions as possible.

However, if you have successfully designed other line-connected,
non-isolated hardware, then it's possible you might not need one.

Cheerful regards,

Bob


RV9 Factory wrote:
> STMicro has a line of triacs (BTA16-600SW is one example) designed to be
> driven directly by a microcontroller (or whatever) without using an
> optoisiolator.
> 
> Is this a safe and/or acceptable practice?  Power to be switched is 120VAC
> ~8A
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> RV9
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