DC bidirectional motor control timer relay

Hardware
1

Ok, So I am a NOOB here, and I have done a bit of searching which has led me to asking my question about controlling multiple 24vdc 4 amp motors. I need a timer Relay set up. It has to be bi-directional control of motors (which will be accomplished via the relays). So I saw there is a 4 relay board for the Particle/Photon however I have seen the Arduino has a 8 channel or 8 relay board out there. Is there a way to adapt the arduino 8 channel relay board ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/360717697832?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT ) to the particle? or http://www.ebay.com/itm/121746553373?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I need a motor to turn on for 40 seconds in cw direction, then 12 hours later turn ccw for 40 seconds, and this must be repeated daily.

Any help and or guide in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

2

Hmmm… What you would do is to use 2 relay:

NO1 -----> +24Vdc

COM1 ---> one side of the motor

NC1  -----> GND


NO2 -----> +24Vdc

COM2 ---> other side of the motor

NC2  -----> GND

You simply toggle ONE of the TWO relay to run the motor and one would drive it clockwise and another would drive it anti-clockwise.

1 Like
3

Have you seen
https://www.controleverything.com

They have tons of relay boards for the Photon :wink: Not cheap but cool :sunglasses:

But sure, you can use the Arduino board, just have to pay attention to the Vcc supply for the board.
The opto-isolated control lines can directly be connected to the Photon pins.
I think you just might have to remember that the relays are controlled active-low (reversed logic).

1 Like
4

Thank you for the response. I appreciate the clarity on the motor connections to the relay board. I am more so wondering about the actual boards that are available for the Particle. Specifically the arduino relay circuit boards. they are cheap and easy to get. The ones for the Particle not so much.

5

Thank you for the quick reply, the boards for the particle are not cheap!!! i can get the arduino ect8 relay curcuit boards for about 6 bucks… vs 240 for particle… hmm i am thinking maybe arduino is the way to go. but if I did go particle, how would i connect the arduino style board to the particle?

6

On the first board you linked there is a row of headers marked INx with one common GND.
Just hook one INx pin to one of the Dx or Ax bins (e.g. female-female jumper wires for testing).

1 Like
7

@yavila81, the ControlEverything Particle relay boards are designed to use the I2C bus (2 wires plus GND) to control relays, allowing for substantial expansion to a large number of total relays. The Arduino boards require one GPIO output pin per relay, limiting the number of relays available to the available GPIO pins.

A comparable board costs about $90 on eBay. Another thing to point out is that the ControlEverything boards have a Photon socket onboard plus a power supply saving the need for any extra board.

@ScruffR is correct in his instructions. The use of opto-isolated relays allows for control with any 3.3v or 5v controller. A good 5V 1A or more power supply will power both the Photon and relay board. :smile:

1 Like
8

A cheaper alternative might be a stepper motor driver. It’s basically a dual H-bridge for a stepper motor, but most can double as a 2 DC motor control. It’ll still require 2 I/O pins per motor though (EN and DIR) unless you can tie some together for same direction or to run at the same time.