[plug] PC relay control

[Adam Davin]

Evening All,

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 14:03:37 +0800
Jim Householder <nofixed at westnet.com.au> wrote:

> William Kenworthy wrote:
> > Seeing the thread on UPS's, reminded me of a project I want to complete:
> > is there a reasonable priced relay board that can be controlled via a
> > linux PC.  Main use is to control fans in 2 PC's (cooling vs noise !!)
> > as well as use them in some other applications so need multiple outputs
> > (minimum 5).  Dick Smith has some projects that are built on interfacing
> > to the parallel port, but a pci card seems better.  I last looked at
> > this some time back (year or two) and they were too costly.
> > 
> > Ideas?
> > 
> > BillK
> 
> While a PCI solution is more elegant perhaps, I would think that the bus interface would more than double the cost and complexity.  If you are concerned about the extra box for the circuit on your desk, perhaps it could be stored inside the computer case with the connections for  things to control routed to connectors in the back panel as required.  For the fans, everything is internal.  You might be able to find an i/o  card that has a ribbon cable connection for the parallel port.

I was thinking of trying to build an alarm system (very simple) that can be monitored by a pc (alas my electronics knowledge is not, well, outstanding). I was looking at some kind of serial interface originally, however USB is possibly a better way to go. The following site seems to have a ready made usb interface, not sure of cost. That just means you need a little more hardware to allow for the fan control. 

http://www.astronlogic.com/

Also the fact that most motherboards have internal USB connectors, this would mean that you wouldn't have to have cables hanging out of the machine etc.. 

Regards, 

-- 

Adam Davin