Introduction: How to Control a Device Using Raspberry Pi and a Relay - THE BASICS

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This is a basic and straight forward tutorial on how to control a device using Raspberry Pi and a Relay, helpful for making IoT Projects

This tutorial is for beginners, it is friendly to follow along even if you have zero knowledge of using Raspberry Pi and it includes how to set up your raspberry pi

Supplies

Raspberry Pi - I'm using model 4B

Micro SD card, with Micro SD card reader

Screen or TV, Keyboard, and Mouse

Relay - I got mine from https://www.digital-loggers.com/

Any device

Step 1: Format Your Micro SD Card

Plug your Micro SD card to the card reader, then plug it to your mac Go to Disk Utility and find your SD card Click on Erase

name it and choose MS-DOS (FAT) for its format, then click Erase

Second: Download NOOBS

Go to https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/ and download NOOBS ZIP file, (DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE LITE VERSION)

Unzip the file, copy and paste it in your Micro SD card

Third: Instal Plug your Micro SD to your Raspberry Pi Then Plug in your mouse and keyboard to the USB port

Step 2: Connect Your Raspberry Pi

Insert the Micro SD card underneath the Raspberry Pi on the left side

Connect your mouse and keyboard to the USB port

Connect your screen to the USB port and Micro USB port

Connect the power cable to USB-C port and plug it to a power supply

(refer to pictures attached)

Step 3: Start Up Your Raspberry Pi

Connect your Raspberry Pi to an outlet and it should turn on automatically

A window will appear to install NOOBS, click on Raspbian Full [Recommended], then hit install

finish setting up your Raspberry Pi, it will take a few minutes

Step 4: Connect Relay to Raspberry Pi

Shut down your Raspberry Pi and unplug it

Plugin the relay

Plug Raspberry Pi to [always ON] outlet in the relay

Plugin your desired device to one of [normally OFF] outlets

Step 5: Connect Jumper Wires

Take the input connector out of the relay

Screw-in jumper wires

Return the input connector to its place

Connect the positive jumper wire to GPIO 17 pin

Connect the negative jumper wire to Ground pin (refer to GPIO picture)

Step 6:

Turn on Raspberry Pi

Go to Raspbian > Programing > Thonny Python IDE

Type your code, you can use the one below:

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
PWR = 17
GPIO.setwarnings(False)
GPIO.setup(PWR,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(PWR, True)
time.sleep(5)
GPIO.output(PWR, False)
GPIO.cleanup()

Hit [Run]

Your device should turn on for 5 seconds

Note: you can change the duration by changing the number 5 to your preferred time [time.sleep(5)]