Wireless Technologies

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Overview

The revolution of iOT (Internet of Things) has been beneficial to the Christmas Lighting community by bringing the ability to incorporate industry standard wifi as a connection method for our lighting controllers. The advantage of wireless is of course the reduction in cables and potentially more flexibility in light element design.

One great feature of this technology is that it is very inexpensive. The first widely adopted technology is based on a chip know as the ESP8266. Here is a link to wiki entry for this little beauty if you care to read up on it: ESP8266 wiki entry


Designs with detailed information

Circuit Diagram

A generic SSR circuit diagram is available for download. The SSR depicted in the above schematic is good for controlling resistive loads (lights, resistors). The SSR design for controlling inductive loads (motors, solenoids, etc) is more complicated, and can be found at other sites on the Internet.

Components

There are a few basic components that make up a Solid State Relay.

Triac

A Triac is a semiconductor device which perfoms the actual switching of the High Voltage current. It is usually in a TO-220 package with three pins.

Optocoupler

The Optocoupler is a device that helps to keep high voltages out of the control board and computer. It consists of a small LED that is optically coupled to an sensor circuit. The controller powers the LED, which causes the sensor circuit to send power to the Triac. Because there is no electrical path from the controller to the High Voltage, the risk of damage is significantly reduced.

Fuse

The fuse is another safety device used in many designs to limit the flow of current through the board. It will blow out if an unsafe amount of current passes through it, preventing damage to the board or a fire.

Resistors

Solid State Relays also have resistors to limit the flow of current through certain components. The value of the resistor can be determined based on the instructions at SimpleIO

Wiki Links

4 Channel SSR Parts List Sean Bowf Coop Board
4 Channel SSROZ Assembly Instructions

Designs with detailed information

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