This page will detail the forth version of this relay board, it will use a custom DMX control board addressing each relay and will be controlled using VSA.
If you would like some more information Email me. Click Here for parts list
This list will give you a good idea of the parts that you will need to make this project. Some tools you might need will be a soldering iron, drill, screw drivers, pliers and wirecutters.
New Enclosure And power boxes.
Relay board & High Voltage wireing
Use Caution when working with 120VAC, It is dangerous and can kill you. If you dont know what your doing find someone that does and ask for help. This is provided for information only, I am not responsible if you mess up. Please take the proper precautions.
The wireing for this project uses all 3 wires in a cut up extension cord the black and white wires are used to address the individual sockets and the green is used to connect the other side. Each socket is split to allow control of 2 lights per box. The wiring is pretty simple, the relays share a common side and each relay handles one socket, all the green wires that come from the box are tied together. I split the board right down the middle and use 2 plugs so that the load can be split on 2 breakers. If you would like some additional information on this please let me know and i can draw up a diagram.
DMX Control board
First DMX boards layed out on protoboards. The first time i made this board it did not work, I set it up agian and it works perfectly, the next step will be to solder 3 of them together on a board for final installation.
I have finshed programming all of the chips I will be using for the dmx control boards. In addition to the three that will run this relay light controller, I will be making 4 other controllers to run air valves and mechanical relays. Click here for the Firmware Click here for the Schematic
The only changes made to the firmware is the addressing line. I choose to use a programmed start address instead of a switch select one. so the start addresses are defined in the firmware.
Since the start address is defined in the firmware parts of the circuit are not needed and thus left out of the final build. The entire addressing section and the eeprom can both be left out.
Power supply
The power supply for this relay setup will be in a few parts. First there are 2- 120 volt power connectors, this will supply the lights connected to the board with the power they need. Second will be a transformer putting out 15 volts, this will supply the voltage needed by the relays to switch on and off and provide power to the dmx network interface. The 15 volts will be regulated down to 9 volts and then down to 5 volts that the SX28 chips need.
Computer, DMX setup and software
The computer i used to control this is an HP mini laptop with a 1.6 ghz processor and 2 gigs of ram. I used 2 different software programs, the first was for inital testing which was trackskull This is a free program that is great for testing and recording dmx or other signals. The second program i used is VSA, this is a show automation software. Both allow you to send dmx signals over a network and control a large collection of devices. I will be using VSA to control everything thing in the haunted house coming up in october. For the DMX setup I bought a enttec USB-to-DMX controller. The open version was enought for what i am doing.
Testing during and after construction
Completed system
I have finally installed the last few parts to complete the relay board and finish testing. everything works perfect and it is ready for halloween and christmas.
