4 Relays Module ENG
4 Relays Module ENG
Have fun!
Relays are used to control AC circuits, switching them ON or OFF. The
relay is one of the most important control elements. It is an electrical switch
that responds to a signal received from the microcontroller (like in
Atmega328P Board or Raspberry Pi). Relays are widely used in remote
control, communications, mechatronics devices, power electronic devices,
etc. They also can be used to separate powerful voltage/current electronics
(like AC or DC motors, or any AC device, etc.), from microelectronics (like
microcontrollers, sensors, etc.).
Inside relay, there is one mechanical switch (three yellow metal rods, with
one in the middle that is bent to one side, and is movable), which is
controlled by the second element of the electromagnet (yellow cylinder), as
shown on the image below:
In the non active state, the mechanical switch is in the OFF state, NC pin is
connected with common pin, and NO is unconnected. When the power is
being connected to the electromagnet (via transistor and rectifier diode), this
moves the switch to the active state, thus connecting the common pin to NO
pin.
The 4 relays module consists of four relays capable of handling up to 5A
50V AC. For every relay, there are aslo a LED, two resistors, a NPN
transistor, a rectifier diode and optocoupler.
On the DC side of the board there are six pins, four input pins for four
relays, one for power supply (VCC) and one for ground (GND). There is
also a two pin jumper for selecting power supply (external or VCC power
supply). On the AC side there is three pin screw terminal header, where
pins are labeled as: Normally Closed - NC pin, Common pin and Normally
Open - NO pin.
Specifications:
Maximum AC: 5A 50V
Maximum DC: 5A 30V
Contact Type: Both: Normally Closed – NC, Normally Opened - NO
Dimensions: 55 x 75mm [2.2 x 2.95in]
The pinout
External power supply jumper is used for selecting the power supply input. If
it is left unconnected, the relays will not be powered up at all, but the LEDs
on-board the module will still blink. If you connect the JD-VCC pin and VCC
pin together (with two pin jumper), the module will be powered up from the
VCC pin.
If you want to use external power supply, remove two pin jumper, and
connect the positive side of external power supply to JD-VCC pin, and
ground pin of external power supply with ground pin of the module.
External power supply
If you did not install Arduino IDE already, this is how to do it. Go to the link:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software and download installation file for
your operating system platform.
For Windows, double click on downloaded ".exe" file and follow instructions
in installation window.
For Linux, download file with extension ".tar.xz", which then you need to
extract. When you extract it, go to the extracted directory, and open terminal
in that directory. You need to run two “.sh” scripts, first called "arduino-linux-
setup.sh", and second called "install.sh".
After installation of the first script, run the second called "install.sh" script. In
terminal, run the following command:
sh install.sh
After the installation of these scripts, go to the All Apps to find the Arduino
IDE installed.
Next thing is to check if your PC can detect the microcontroller board. Open
freshly installed Arduino IDE, and go to:
Tools > Board > {your board name here}
{your board name here} should be the Arduino/Genuino Uno, as you can
see on the image below:
After this you need to select the port on which the microcontroller board is
connected. Go to: Tools > Port > {port name goes here}
If you connected the microcontroller board to the USB port, there should be
several port names. Because we are using Arduino IDE on Windows, port
names are like on image below.
For Linux users, port name is “/dev/ttyUSBx” for example, where “x”
represents specific integer number between 0 and 9, for instance.
Connecting the module with Atmega328P Board
NOTE: As you can see in the red rectangle on the connection diagram,
external power supply jumper is connected, connecting JD-VCC pin with
VCC pin. This means that the 4 relays module will be powered up from
microcontroller board via VCC pin.
Sketch example:
void setup() {
pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(2, HIGH);
digitalWrite(3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(4, HIGH);
digitalWrite(5, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(2, LOW);
digitalWrite(3, LOW);
digitalWrite(4, LOW);
digitalWrite(5, LOW);
delay(1000);
}
When you upload the sketch to the microcontroller board, you should hear
clicks from relays. When the relay changes state from active to rest and vice
versa, you can hear switching clicks.
First you have to install operating system on the Raspberry Pi, then to set it
up so that you can use it in the “headless” mode. Headless mode enables
you to remotely connect to the Raspberry Pi, without the need for PC
screen Monitor, mouse and keyboard. You can find detailed explanation in
the free eBook "Raspberry Pi Quick Startup Guide", which can be found on
our site:
https://www.az-delivery.de/products/raspberry-pi-kostenfreies-e-book?ls=en
NOTE: As you can see in the red rectangle on the connection diagram,
external power supply jumper is connected, connecting JD-VCC pin with
VCC pin. This means that the 4 relays module will be powered up from
Raspberry Pi board via VCC pin.
Python script:
finally:
GPIO.cleanup()
Save the script by the name "Relays.py" into default script directory. To run
the script open terminal in the directory where you saved the script and run
the following command:
python3 Relays.py
The output should look like the output on the image below:
https://az-delivery.de
Have Fun!
Impressum
https://az-delivery.de/pages/about-us