One thing that makes me curious - I noticed that even with both the
breaker for the A/C compressor on the main panel and the exterior
breaker at the compressor turned off, when I turned on the air
handler, the compressor relay switch still activated. I thought if the
breakers are off, it interrupted the circuit to the compressor and
nothing should get to any part of the unit?

Thanks again.

As the other poster said, the contactor is powered by the 24V from the
air handler inside your house. So even if you turned off the 240V, you
would still here the relay click.

Congrats on fixing the unit yourself despite the sarcastic remarks
some of these idiots made.