Connecting relay to digital outputs

[Doddy]

The ssr was wired to a ac chassis socket to plug kress spindle into, but when the ssr was switched off I measure voltage across the chassis socket pins and was shocked to see I had 246v when it was supposed to be off and in an open state, I even disconnected the dc supply just to make sure it wasn't getting any voltage from the bob and it still showed 246v.

Be interesting to repeat that with a proper load (I assume you threw a DVM across the terminals?), you'll probably find a snubber circuit across the switching triac in the SSR to drop the switching noise - and the DVM will see the nominal terminal voltage. Add a load you *might* find that the voltage drops towards zero. Of course, the SSR could also be buggered.

But... relay... KISS.