Computer control

Hi

At secondary school, we had BBC Master computers connected by some sort of serial port to a box to which devices or relays could be connected.

The box had a series of nodes with live and neutral connectors, and the circuit could be either opened or closed using the computer.

Does anyone know of a modern version of this. Perhaps something that can be controlled through Windows or Linux ?

Thanks

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Most modern buildings now have automated control of heating and lighting via Ethernet. Shedloads of companies now produce network switches and controllers for use in such situations and are now cheap enough to be used in domestic situations. As they are based on TCP/IP over Ethernet they can easily be controlled via the internet if necessary.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Gibson

part num 3108KT in kit form, AS3108 assembled. You'll also need a (12v 500mA?) wall wart.

Reply to
Tony Williams

News,

The 8 zones of my central heating are controlled via opto-isolators from the parallel port of a PC running an application I wrote using TurboPascal. You must be aware when starting down this track that the later (Win 98 onwards) versions of Windows do their level best to keep you away from directly talking to ports so you have to do a bit of fiddling arround with .ocx 's

(It also keep track of Electricity and Water consumption, and regen cycles on the water softener, and acts as my portal onto the internet via adsl)

Andrew Mawson

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

Looks like an excellent company.

An alternative for controlling mains appliances is the X10 series of devices. You can use the PC to program and monitor pretty much any mains light or device over RF or mains cabling, either directly or stand alone. As usual it all comes down to budget.

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Reply to
Toby

You don't say what this is used for, but for some uses, X10 mains-born signalling devices might be convenient, and there's a serial interface module designed for connecting to a PC (and a number of software packages to drive it, for Windows and I think Linux too).

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

If you were intending using a dedicated PC for this, why not use an Acorn A5000 instead? You'll get one for free or very little easily, and it's ideal for this application - indeed many are still used for machine control. They're built like tanks and go on for ever.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

I didn't know that.

Are you able to suggest any names?

Hmm. Although *safely* opening your BMS network to the Internet might be less than trivial...

Will

Reply to
Will Dean

I found this link recently, and it seems quite useful.

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Reply to
Steve

Could you check this link please - my DNS server can't resolve the address!

Reply to
Set Square

This is not a beginner's project, though. :-)

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

This is home automation, it is now off the shelf stuff. I think B&Q do aone. There is an ng for it.

Reply to
IMM

Echelon Corporation AMX Corporation Crestron Electronics, Inc. Andover Controls Vantage ACS American Auto-Matrix Applied Digital, Inc Blue Earth Research Chalmor Limited Computrols, Inc. Delta Controls, Inc. Dimax Controls Energy Control Technologies Excel Energy Technologies, Ltd. FieldServer Technologies H I Solutions, Inc. Protect Controls, Inc. Reliable Computer Systems Ltd Richards Zeta Vantage Walker Systems Corporation

To name but a few.

Not really a problem with appropriate encryption and other security interlocks.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Gibson

Yes. Try Black box or Betterbox. One of them at least does a remote reboot device that runs of a serial link. Or used to.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Hmmph... that's exactly what I've been doing recently. Testing a small bank of industrial remotely controlled power supplies, with an old A5000. As you say, just the job for that sort of thing. Umm.... except that the HD of some A5000's can be a little tired and replacements are hard to come by (was it an ST506 HD).

Reply to
Tony Williams

I was assuming that for a lot of this sort of thing, you'd not even need an HD in practice, as the A5000 doesn't *depend* on one. I'd also imagine it's possible to use a modern HD - many people still use these machines for real. I'll ask around if it's any help.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

A5000 uses standard IDE drives. Only the 310 series used ST506. There is a size limit as the machine will not read anything bigger than 500Mb I think.

Reply to
Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)

That's what I thought, but it's a long time since I had either.

Yes, but IIRC it doesn't stop you using a larger drive - it will just be treated as a 500Mb. IIRC again. ;-) But I think you can get add on IDE cards that will allow larger ones.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

No probs here(from blueyonder). FWIW domain resolves to 66.35.250.209 (projects.sourceforge.net) if I run a tracert.

Reply to
Chris Hodges

Thanks! I tried it later and it was ok - must have been a temporary glitch somewhere.

Reply to
Set Square

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