Raspberry PI relay board

Mike-VA3MW

Good morning all and we hope you are all safe and well.

I keep looking for  8 port relay boards for my Raspberry PI's to run NodeRed on.  

Sequent has this beauty!  

https://sequentmicrosystems.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=42

• Eight on-board relays
• Four layer stackable
• Eight 12-bit ADC channels
• One 12-bit DAC output
• Eight opto-isolated inputs
• Four open drain outputs
• 29 GPIOs (23 GPIOs from Raspberry Pi + 6 new)
• Configurable interrupts
• Command line, Python, CODESYS drivers
• Package includes 18mm stand-offs, screws and nuts

Alan

Hi Mike

Looks like a great way to concentrate a large volume of relays and sensor inputs/outputs into a small package.  Wish I had seen this earlier.

I am now working on my "second generation" of Node-Red / Raspberry Pi remote station control.

Generation One was a single concentrated Pi with all relays and sensor inputs on one Pi (looked like a bowl of spaghetti).  As my needs and ideas grew, this system has become "unmanageable" not to mention control cables going out in all directions and length.

Generation Two takes advantage of a Mosquito MQQT server to eliminate all of the outgoing cables and allow for using "satellite Pis" near the process being controlled.   Connection for all the devices using my LAN / ethernet cables.  (just like a Flex / PGXL combination!)

I have one central Pi with all of the Node-Red logic , MQQT server and User Interface.  This one and only pi has its Node-Red Port opened thru the router for access away from home.

I have four satellite Pis:

- Satellite Antenna Control and Sensor Inputs (Volts, Amps, Temperature)
- Flex, Tuner, Amp, Antenna Control and Sensor Inputs (Volts, Amps, Temperature)
- Misc Controls: SMORF, W2, SteppIR, DX Eng Receive Antenna, Green Herron Rotor Control
- Server Cabinet Environmental Controls and Sensor Inputs (Volts, Amps, Temperature)

I wanted more of an "industrial" feel for each of the Satellite Pis, and found this DIN mountable board:

https://czh-labs.com/-p1290.html

Cost of each satellite station seemed reasonable at $110.   I saved more then that in control cable.

Alan
WA9WUD

K6HN

I am using a sightly different version of those 'Sequent' boards to control my antenna switching. I have 4 stacked and they are working well so far. 

Alan, Nice find on that Relay board. I am going to order one to play around with.

Gary,
K6HN

Alan

I am re-building my station control boards based on Electronic Salon DIN Rail mounted products.  This is moving me from a "breadboarded spaghetti" design to a near industrial control panel design.  Their web site is very well designed to browse the wide range of boards.   The uses of MQQT also helps to move the  Raspberry Pi boards near the process under control, eliminating many feet of cable.

My original design was very fragile and I spent too much time fixing it, so I wanted a more robust/reliable design for boards and wiring.

The boards ship from Hong Kong, but with a shipping charge of $3.00 and a one-week delivery time, I find them reasonably available.

Alan
WA9WUD