A CRJ200 WAS DISPATCHED WITH THE AC AUTO XFER RELAY DEFERRED AS INOP IN CONFLICT WITH THE MEL AND QRH.

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UPON ARRIVING AT ACFT FOR MORNING FIRST FLT OF THE DAY; I STARTED APU AND APPLIED POWER NORMALLY. I NOTICED SEVERAL UNUSUAL MESSAGES ON THE SCREEN; OUR STBY INSTRUMENT WAS ACTING WEIRD; AND OUR ACARS WAS NOT WORKING. FROM EXPERIENCE I WENT AHEAD AND SHUT DOWN ALL ELECTRICAL POWER AND REESTABLISH POWER. SOME OF THE PROBLEMS CORRECTED THEMSELVES; BUT NOT ALL. I ONCE AGAIN REMOVED POWER AND TURNED APU GENERATOR BACK ON -- JUST THEN ELECTRICAL POWER WAS LOST; NOW ONLY ON BATT POWER. BOTH L AND R 'AUTO XFER FAIL' LIGHTS AND CAUTION MESSAGES APPEARED. APU POWER OR GND POWER WOULD NOT BE ACCEPTED BY ACFT. AFTER CALLING MAINT; THEY SUGGESTED STARTING ENGS AND APPLYING ENG GEN POWER. PER MAINT'S DIRECTION DEFERRED A RELAY THAT SEEMED TO BE CONSISTENT WITH OUR PROBLEM (ONCE AWAY FROM THE HEAT OF THE BATTLE INFLT; I WAS NOT CONVINCED THAT THIS MEL APPLIED TO OUR PROBLEM). ALL SEEMED OK. AFTER PUSHBACK I DECIDED TO CONFER WITH OUR QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE IN OUR QRH FOR 'AC 1 AND 2 AUTO XFER FAIL.' THIS CHART INDICATED OUR SITUATION AS A 'NO GO.' I ONCE AGAIN CONFIRMED WITH MAINT THAT THIS WAS LEGAL AND OK PER OUR MEL DESPITE THE QRH CHART. THEY SAID YES WE WERE LEGAL; WE CONFORMED TO THE MEL AND QRH JUST AS A REFERENCE.CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR CONTACTED MAINT CTLR AND WAS ADVISED TO POWER AIRPLANE WITH ENGS. THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED BUT STILL HAD AC 1 AND 2 AUTO XFER FAIL LIGHTS. MAINT CTLR ADVISED RPTR THIS WAS CAUSED BY A RELAY THAT COULD BE DEFERRED. LATER; THE RPTR; FEELING UNEASY ABOUT THIS DEFERRAL; CHKED THE QRH AND FOUND IT WAS A 'NO GO' ITEM.