Serial Relay
with Built-In Real Time Clock

Connect the Taralist Controller to Your Computer's Serial Port or USB port with an adapter
The Controller Mounts as a Virtual COM Port on Your PC
Time Activated Control is Effortless!

Our New ZRS Serial Taralist Relay Controllers make it easier than ever to add time activated controlled switching to your most demanding computer control applications.  Simply connect to your computer and this controller mounts as a COM Port on your PC, allowing easy programming from any language that supports serial communications.

This Taralist controller connects to the Serial port of your computer and requires a 12VDC Power Supply (available at checkout).  Once powered up, the Taralist controller waits for a command.  A command consists of a few bytes of data.  Usually between 2 and 6 bytes.  Once the command has been received, the controller processes the command, and sends you back ASCII character code 85 to signal the completion of your command.

Read More About Serial Communications

Three RS-232 Connection Options

There are three RS-232 connection options available for this controller.

ZRS-A Wire It Up	ZRS-B Plug It In	ZRS-AB Both!
Choose the connection that fits your needs. The ZRS-A connection is recommended for applications where hard wiring directly to the board is needed. ZRS-B has the fill 9-Pin RS-232 connector on the board. The ZRS-AB Has the fill 9-Pin connector but is is located off the board for applications where the board may be place inside an enclosure an the RS-232 connector needs to reach to the side of the enclosure.  You can choose one of these connection options at checkout.

Integrated Real Time Clock

The Taralist series Time Activated Relay Controllers are unlike any other relay timer in the world. The Taralist series have an integrated battery backed Real Time Clock with memory that allows users to control relays based on a time schedule. Use your computer to setup the time schedule and store your schedule into the Taralist controller. Once stored, the Taralist does not require a computer, and will activate relays according to a schedule that can be as simple or as complex as your application requires.

Time Schedule Events & How They Work

Events are scheduled times when a relay or group of relays are turned on or off. They are defined by the user first by time: Year, Month, Day of Month, Day of week, Hour, Minute, and Second. By having these options you have the ability of switching relays on or off at very specific times. Activate relays only when the day is Monday, activate relays when the day is Monday and the Year is 2020, activate relays when the day is Monday, the year is 2020 at 9:44:21 AM. They are also defined by how they control the relays, whether they turn a relay or group of relays on or off. You can add up to 999 Events to the list.

Program Multiple Schedules

Override functions are also supported. So if the normal schedule activates a light during weekdays, but you don't want the light to come on during holidays, simply program your holiday schedule to prevent the light from activating according to your normal schedule.

Daylight Savings Time is also supported, and is FULLY CUSTOMIZEABLE. As we all know, DST laws change periodically, but the Taralist series allow you to change the year and date of all DST events (we have programmed the US dates until 2030).

Taralist controllers allow you to build and save your time schedule as a file on your computer, you can comment your schedule and control which events are active and inactive. We encourage you to keep your schedule file in a safe place. Once you have perfected your file, you can store the time schedule into as many Taralist controllers as you could ever need.

Defining Time

By default the Time Relay controller does not know what time it is so this must be defined. The only way of doing this is from the Configuration Utility. Once your controller is connected to the computer and the Configuration Utility is launched the first thing to do is tell the Time Relay Controller what time it is. You may do this manually or you can Sync the time with your PC. This is done using the window below in the Con-figuration utility. The user can do this by simply clicking the Sync Time with PC Time button or by filling in the Year, Month, Day, Week Day, Hour, Minute, Second parameters and then clicking the Set Time Manually button.

Clock Accuracy - Adjustable Time Compensation

Clock Accuracy is of paramount importance to us. Like most clocks, time drift is a reality that must be considered. The Taralist clock has some special features to help keep the time accurate. We have included time compensation functions that allow you to automatically adjust the clock forward or back (by up to 15 seconds) each day of the week. For instance, you may find the Taralist keeps better time if it automatically advances the clock 1 second each day of the week. Or you may find that you need to subtract 5 seconds from the clock 1 day per week. Adjustable time compensation will help keep your clock accurate (though it is always a good idea to check on the clock periodically).

When the current time matches the time of the event stored in your controller, you can activate or deactivate a single relay, a group of relays, or all 256 relays. You can also set the relays to Computer control or Taralist control (this is perfect for holiday override. A computer may be used to activate/deactivate relays at any time. The computer will override the time schedule. The computer can also return control of the relays back to the Taralist controller, or the Taralist controller can be set to automatically take back control of relays at a specific time.

Computer Control

The Time Relay series controllers have some amazing abilities when it comes to making decisions on their own based on the events you configure into them, but you can take control of the relays at any time from a computer as long as communications are established between your computer and the Time Relay device.

The interface elements shown at right allow a computer to take over control of any relay and force the relays to a On or Off state. You may also turn all relays on or off using the all relays on and all relays off buttons. You can also read the status of relays by clicking the Read Relay 1-8 Status. The Status of the relay will be shown to the right of the button. The slider at the top of the screen allows you to select with bank of relays these commands are directed to. You may attach up to 32 banks or 256 Relays.

Power Loss Backup Buffer

The Midnight Backup Buffer is a special feature we developed to help keep track of which relays should be activated in the event power is lost. Every night at midnight, the current status of all relays is stored in non-volatile memory. If power is lost, the Taralist will load the status of the relays from memory. Next, the Taralist will calculate all events from midnight to the current time to determine if any relays need to be activated or deactivated. Finally, the Taralist will refresh all relays and will be ready for normal operation.

Relay Outputs

Time Relay Controllers are capable of controlling up to 256 Relays from only one Time Relay CPU. These controllers are available with 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32 relays on a printed circuit board as well as a small controller with only an XR expansion port instead of relays. XR Expansion Relays may be added to the XR Expansion Port at any time giving you as many relays as you need (up to 256).

A relay is similar to a switch. The only difference between a switch and a relay is the actual mechanism for changing the on/off status of the switch. On a switch, you manually push on a piece of metal or plastic to operate the switch. On a relay, an electric current is used to operate the switch. Though a relay resembles the characteristics of a switch, it cannot be controlled by touching it with your finger. So from now on, we will use the word "Relay" to indicate a switch that is controlled by the Time Relay controller (instead of your finger).





Notes:

Boot up time of a Taralist controller is less than 1 second. The CPU on the Taralist controller operates at 64 MHz and is capable of processing 2000 events in 17ms. Taralist controllers may be configured wirelessly or through the USB port using the NCD Configuration Utility. A computer may take control of a Taralist controller and control relays by sending only a few bytes of data (using Wireless or USB communications). The Taralist controller requires power at Midnight of each night for proper operation of the Backup buffer. A very small rechargeable Lithium battery is permanently soldered to the controller; the charge rate of this battery is programmable from the NCD Configuration utility. When connected to the USB port of your computer, the Taralist controller must have power to prevent excessive time drift. The Midnight Backup Buffer may be edited using the NCD Configuration Utility. Time schedule events cannot be processed without power, battery backup is used to keep time only.