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Relays
have been, and will continue to be one of the most widely used
forms of industrial control. There are just some
applications where nothing else will do. Today's relays
last longer than ever with an operational life exceeding 1
million cycles at their marked rating.
As computer control gains
popularity, the need for computer controlled relays has
increased proportionally. The marriage of new technology
with brute-force mechanical control makes the R85/R810 relay
controllers among the most versatile computer control
solutions available.
But the real power lies in the
fact that it is easy to use, simple to connect, and easy to
troubleshoot. A unique heartbeat LED continuously
flashed when power is applied, indicating that the
microprocessor is functioning properly. A "Data
Received" LED flashes when data is sent to the
board. And finally, a bank of 8 LEDs indicate the
current status of each relay.
The R85/R810 operates from just
about any 12 volt DC power supply and does NOT click the
relays when power is first applied.
Controlling the R85/R810 is
simple. Just connect 2 wires to the RS-232 port of your
computer or microcontroller. In your software, simply
send ASCII character codes 0 to 7 to turn off each of the 8
relays, and ASCII character codes 8 to 15 turn each relay
on. Up to 16 R85/R810 relay controllers can share a
single serial port, making it possible to control 128 relays
with only 2 wires. If you want to connect a third data line between
the relay board and your computer or microcontroller, the
relay board will be able to tell you computer which relays are
currently active.
Not all relay controllers are
created equal. We like to think ours is little better
than everyone else's and we have a few good reasons to think
so:
First, the RS-232 input of the
relay controller is fully optoisolated, electrically
separating the relay controller from your computer.
Second, it is commonly known
that relays, by their very nature, produce a high-voltage
inductive spike every time it is actuated or deactuated.
Like most relay controller manufacturers, we have chosen to
use fast-acting diodes to help shunt this dangerous energy
away from the main control CPU.
Unlike most manufacturers, we
chose to use high-current, high-voltage transistor networks in
conjunction with capacitors to help absorb stray flyback
voltages. While this is a more expensive design choice,
the extra cost pays for the long-term reliability gained from
such a finely tuned design.
Our new Revision B relay
controller weighs in as the smallest high-current relay
controller you can buy. By design, it has the longest
operational life, the best on-board diagnostics, and is the
easiest to use of any relay controller on the market.
We are so confident in our
design that we offer a LIFETIME repair warranty on the
electronics of this relay controller.
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