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controlling many switches from the PC

Hi,

I would like to control arund 100 electric switches from my PC.
Can someone guide me on this.

Thanks in advance

Arun Sahlam
 
B

Bob Masta

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I would like to control arund 100 electric switches from my PC.
Can someone guide me on this.

Thanks in advance

Arun Sahlam

You can do this with the standard parallel printer port.
It's easier if your system uses Win9x or DOS, but should
work from NT,2K, XP with an IO driver so you can get
access to the port.

The standard port has only 8 output lines, but it also
has several control lines. The trick is to make a multiplexer
8-bit latch chips. Use 4 control lines to select one of 16
latch chips to be updated from the common 8 lines.
That will give you 8 * 16 = 128 possible outputs.

There is lots of port info at www.lvr.com

Hope this helps!


Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
 
B

Bruce Robin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Try reading up on X10 at www.X10.com. They have a controller that attaches
to your PC and the switches you'll need.
 
M

Maurine O.

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I would like to control arund 100 electric switches from my PC.
Can someone guide me on this.

Thanks in advance

Arun Sahlam


well how do you want to control them.? and what sort of switches are
they.? and what do they control.?, what kind of hardware do you have
hooked up to your computer at the moment.???......You could use a
microcontroller to do this, but some information regarding your
existing infrastructure would be useful
 
W

wkearney99

Jan 1, 1970
0
I would like to control arund 100 electric switches from my PC.
Can someone guide me on this.

This like asking "How can I get to work?"

What sort of switches, what sort of electric devices, what voltages, what
wattage, what distances, etc..

Ask better questions and you'll probably get better answers.
 
J

JL Hart

Jan 1, 1970
0
Maurine said:
well how do you want to control them.? and what sort of switches are
they.? and what do they control.?, what kind of hardware do you have
hooked up to your computer at the moment.???......You could use a
microcontroller to do this, but some information regarding your
existing infrastructure would be useful
There is a book, perhaps out of print, from TAB books "Building Your Own
Universal Computer Interface" by Bruce Chubb, that would provide a bunch
of outdated information to get you started. The ISBN # is 0-8306-3122-4.

Also, a look at the data sheet for an 82C55 programmable interface
controller is interesting for historical content. It will point out the
many good reasons for using a micro controller.

Maurine's questions are also valid. On what level of interface are you
looking to implement? Parallel port? Serial port? Mother board plug-in
card? Speed?
Then comes the question of user interface software on the PC. Is this
something that you would prefer "off the shelf", or will you develop
this application software?
 
V

VKY

Jan 1, 1970
0
If you want industrial strength safety and ease of use, go with an I/O
card that you can plug into your PC. There are many vendors, and
http://www.advantech.com is one of the popular ones. The others you
would have to google.

Most of these cards have multiple output options including relays and
SSR that you can use to control almost anything. They also have drivers,
samples and everything you need to get going fast.

Hopes it helps,

Thomas Yip
www.radicasoftware.com
 
A

Anthony

Jan 1, 1970
0
[email protected] (Bob Masta) wrote in @news.itd.umich.edu:
You can do this with the standard parallel printer port.
It's easier if your system uses Win9x or DOS, but should
work from NT,2K, XP with an IO driver so you can get
access to the port.

The standard port has only 8 output lines, but it also
has several control lines. The trick is to make a multiplexer
8-bit latch chips. Use 4 control lines to select one of 16
latch chips to be updated from the common 8 lines.
That will give you 8 * 16 = 128 possible outputs.

There is lots of port info at www.lvr.com

Hope this helps!


Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com


I did this with my very first computer for a science fair project back in
83....a Tandy Color Computer....had a whopping 16K of extended
memory...but more importantly....it had a game port...
I built a card to plug in the port..used opto-isolators...through some
latches..and on to some high-capacity triacs..would switch 16 120VAC
loads...I just hooked up 16 lamps for the project...but you could have
ran your household appliances from it.
BTW...I've still got the old color computer :)
--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

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