Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 2Relay Setup
----------------------------------------------------------WARNING----------------------------------------------------------------
You will be dealing with AC power. If you don't feel comfortable or you are not sure how to handle AC, please consult a licensed electrician before starting to wire the relays.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A great advantage of using SSRs instead of mechanical relays is that I did not have to add any diodes, transistors, or resistors. Also since there there is no mechanical dependency the switching will be smoother. I would advise to use a breadboard with 1k resistors and different color LEDs during your prototyping. Then when you are ready you can use the SSRs and real Christmas lights.
The connections are pretty straight forward. I daisy chained the ground coming from the Arduino to each of the 8 SSRs. Then 8 digital outputs from the Arduino were connected to each positive of the 8 SSRs.
I gutted the PowerSquid Power Multiplier and removed the 10 outgoing outlets (5 per PowerSquid) as well as the AC plugs. The 5 outgoing outlets came nicely attached together so I cut one from each that used to power the arduino, ioBridge and Wifi bridge.
I connected all the Neutrals (white) together, all the Grounds (green) and then I took the Live (black) and daisy chained to each of the 8 SSRs. Then I individually wired each SSR Live wires to one of the 8 outlets.
I decided to have two power plugs to make the wiring a bit nicer and less bulky. So basically the SSRs on the left are connected to one wall outlet and the SSRs on the right to the other.
You will be dealing with AC power. If you don't feel comfortable or you are not sure how to handle AC, please consult a licensed electrician before starting to wire the relays.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A great advantage of using SSRs instead of mechanical relays is that I did not have to add any diodes, transistors, or resistors. Also since there there is no mechanical dependency the switching will be smoother. I would advise to use a breadboard with 1k resistors and different color LEDs during your prototyping. Then when you are ready you can use the SSRs and real Christmas lights.
The connections are pretty straight forward. I daisy chained the ground coming from the Arduino to each of the 8 SSRs. Then 8 digital outputs from the Arduino were connected to each positive of the 8 SSRs.
I gutted the PowerSquid Power Multiplier and removed the 10 outgoing outlets (5 per PowerSquid) as well as the AC plugs. The 5 outgoing outlets came nicely attached together so I cut one from each that used to power the arduino, ioBridge and Wifi bridge.
I connected all the Neutrals (white) together, all the Grounds (green) and then I took the Live (black) and daisy chained to each of the 8 SSRs. Then I individually wired each SSR Live wires to one of the 8 outlets.
I decided to have two power plugs to make the wiring a bit nicer and less bulky. So basically the SSRs on the left are connected to one wall outlet and the SSRs on the right to the other.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
By the way, seeing as how you're just starting this project yourself, have you uploaded the code to the arduino yet? If so, did you experience any error messages?