Wireless relay control of relays

Gareth Branwyn says: "In this adafruit video, Limor demonstrates how to set up Xbee modules to wirelessly control both standard-type and latching relays."

[#1 posted by Takuan, April 23, 2009 1:45 PM]

I love this stuff! Even if I never get around to using that particular thing, I enjoy thinking about what some tinkerer somewhere is developing. Makes we wish I were twelve again.

[#2 posted by Crispinus211, April 23, 2009 3:02 PM]

What?!

[#3 posted by Takuan, April 23, 2009 3:09 PM]

you never had the joy of discovery as a child of things actually WORKING? It turns into quiet satisfaction as an adult - no where near as good.

[#4 posted by Kimmo, April 23, 2009 3:30 PM]

Strictly speaking, she doesn't demonstrate how to do it, merely that she has done it.

[#5 posted by Anonymous, April 23, 2009 3:44 PM]

@Kimmo - the schematic is on the site if you follow the link to adafruit...

[#6 posted by Blondy, April 23, 2009 4:29 PM]

Don't forget to put a diode across the windings of the relay to prevent the back emf from blowing out the solid state components when the relay de-energizes.

Love,
Blondy

[#7 posted by Anonymous, April 23, 2009 5:13 PM]

#4 actually, i -do- show how to do it, but BB did not link to the original blog post tutorial which is here:
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2009/04/21/using-xbees-to-control-relays/

#5 there is a diode across the relay, its visible in the preview screenshot, wrapped around on the righthand side

[#8 posted by InsertFingerHere, April 23, 2009 6:15 PM]

First, I am _SO_ glad they showed the cat at the end. I thought a certain substance was adversely affecting my perception.

Second, first time I've heard of a latching relay, and I'm in love. Perfect device for battery operated do-dads. And best of all, they are immune to power loss. It's like a 1-bit flash memory cell, only it can connect to line voltage.

Third, some relays have the diode built-in across the coil. Might save room in the final project.

[#9 posted by Anonymous, April 23, 2009 9:51 PM]

♥♥♥
Limor completely rocks my world.
I have a buddy coming round in few moments to assist with transistor matching so I can start my x0xb0x.

[#10 posted by Antinous / Moderator, April 23, 2009 10:06 PM]

Anonymous,

I had to upgrade you to ♥s because you invoked unintentional html.

[#11 posted by allenrl, April 24, 2009 4:42 AM]

You can find solid state relays for cheap these days... If you can't find one that's "latching", you can always use a flip-flop to make it latch.

[#12 posted by Drew from Zhrodague, April 24, 2009 8:06 AM]

Hooray Limor! Nice to see your fruits on BB every so often.

We've had mention of some of your neat projects at our Hackerspace Pittsburgh, http://www.hackpittsburgh.org - Almost time for POV LED fun with Ardionos!

[#13 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 8:27 AM]

Limor is completely hot.

@Takuan - You should check out her site, she has some very easy to assemble kits (just basic soldering) that do cool things, like the tv b gone. Satisfying to assemble, and fun to impress friends with. An her arduino kit is, i think, the best one out there.

I'm using her wave shield in a project now, and read about the wave bubble for additional coolness outside my reach.

http://www.ladyada.net/make/

[#14 posted by Crispinus211, April 24, 2009 8:30 AM]

@1,3 Taukuan:

I'm not saying What?! to you, but to the post itself. I don't understand a word of it! MY childhood discoveries were not of this order.

[#15 posted by Takuan, April 24, 2009 8:38 AM]

what are you waiting for? Get down to the local electronics shop and get a kit!

[#16 posted by Takuan, April 24, 2009 8:40 AM]

start with something simple and give it to a kid after you are ready to move up.
http://www.escience.ca/hobby/RENDER/0001/C9/3056/12102.html

[#17 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 10:18 PM]

So, what's the difference between a latching relay and a regular one? So long as it's at least DPDT (AFAIK they all are) then you can make any relay a latching one...

PS: For the first time ever I've failed the captcha... Both words were unintelligible, so I gave my best guess for each. I was told I failed the turing test and was booted back to the original posting, my text was cleared from the textbox. Someone might want to look into this at some point... Were I not a random useless anonymous poster my suggestions might carry more weight, but really, I'd have hoped it would at least preserve my entry instead of eating my text.

[#18 posted by Takuan, April 24, 2009 10:52 PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay

[#19 posted by sisyphus321, April 27, 2009 7:47 AM]

XBee works on 2.4 GHz. I assume this is the 2.4 GHz ISM band which is also used by WiFi. Any ideas on how/if XBee plays nicely with WiFi?