How to set up a computer controlled power switch

Be advised that while creating your own interfaces for your computer, there are some hazards you should be aware of. First off, if your circuitry is not designed properly, you may cause damage to your computer equipment. If you don't have a basic working knowledge of how various electronic components work and how to properly connect them together, please do whatever is necessary to gain that education BEFORE experimenting with devices that might harm your computer. It's also a good idea, for experimental purposes, to utilize older hardware, as you can likely dig out of a dumpster equipment that is far in excess of anything you will require.

Also be advised, if you're working with relays to control lights that operate off of a conventional AC power source of sufficient voltage (such as that provided by a power outlet), the voltage and amperage levels are extremely dangerous. Not only is there the risk of electric shock, but if the wiring in use is insufficiently small for the load you are working with, there is a fire hazard as well. Please be sure to test all circuitry for faults before plugging it into a wall socket. The testing process will be detailed later in this document.

Step 1: How this works

Refer to the schematic above. The heart of this circuit is the transistor. The transistor acts like a simple electronic switch. When a small amount of current is applied across the base and emitter contacts on the transistor, it creates a change in the semiconductor state which allows an even larger amount of current to pass between the collector and emitter contacts. Therefore, to activate the "switch", you apply voltage to the base. This voltage is provided by the 5V output from the parallel port data pin.

When the transistor will allow current to pass through, it can be used to complete a circuit, such as that including the coil of a relay. This will cause the relay contacts to close (or open), completing another circuit, such as a connection between a lightbulb and your power outlet. Note that the transistor (which passes only DC current, and only a small amount that that) cannot handle the power needed to operate a conventional appliance. Likewise, the data pin of a parallel port isn't sufficient to operate the coil of the relay. The purpose of this circuit is to amplify the power applied at each stage so an extremely small amount of power can control a much larger amount.

Step 2: Designing the circuit

The purpose of the transistor and relay have already been discussed. The remaining components are important as well. First off, we have a 4.7k resistor between the parallel port and the base of the 2N2222 transistor. This limits the amount of current that the parallel port will sink. The diode between the two contacts of the relay coil is also important. The coil is an inductor. It will act like any other conductor except during two critical moments. The moment power is applied to it, it will hold a small charge of current. It takes a few milliseconds to fully absorb that current. When the power supply is removed, the coil will discharge back into the circuit that supplied the power. By placing a diode across the coils, that will be the source of the sudden spike of voltage that will result from the coil suddenly losing its power source. The diode will have no problem handling that surge of current. However, other components in your circuit would not fare as well, such as the transistor, and especially your parallel port.

For the especially paranoid among you can also include an optoisolator between the data pin and the base of the transistor. This will ensure that anything that goes wrong on the relay side of the circuit will not affect the computer.

The Vdd power source requirement will depend on what your relay coil needs to switch. If you have a 12V DC relay, you need a 12V DC source of power for this part of the circuit. This can be a battery, a universal power supply, or depending on the type of application, you can even use your PC's power supply. Keep in mind, relay coils can use a number of different voltages, so choose whatever makes the most sense for your application.

On the contact side of the relay, where you connect your actual appliance, the voltage of the appliance makes no difference. At this point, we're just talking a regular power switch. What we're concerned about now is the amperage rating of the relay. A sugar cube sized relay can handle about 10 amps of current. One that fits in the palm of your hand will handle 15-30 amps. That usually exceeds the breaker size of a single house circuit, so a single relay can easily handle quite a bit of power. However, for safety and heat concerns, you should probably oversize your relay for the application you intend to apply it to, and add fuses if you plan to deal with more than an amp of current.

Step 3: Assembling the Circuit

If this is just an experiment, feel free to use a breadboard or other prototyping system to build your circuit. Provided you use the right components in the correct configuration, you will have no problem with either a breadboard or soldered solution. However, keep in mind, on the appliance side of the relay, The gauge of your wires need to be correctly sized for your application. They can never be too large, but if they're too small for the current requirements, they will get hot during use. This can cause the insulation on the wires to melt, therefore causign a shock and/or fire hazard. If possible, for any appliance that uses power from a wall outlet, use at least 16 gauge wire, if not larger. If part of the circuit on the appliance side of the relay uses copper traces, be certain that the trace size is large enough to handle the current and that those traces are protected from accidental human contact. The typical trace size on a generic pre-traced pcb will handle about 2 amps at most. If you make your own pcboards or have them custom printed, be sure to include large traces for any part of the circuit that will handle a large current. Remember, too much is better than not enough.

Step 4: Testing the Circuit

As mentioned earlier, there is the possibility for undesired consequences for an improperly constructed circuit. Therefore, it's important to be sure to test each part of the circuit before implementing it in a potentially dangerous way. Take your trusty ohm meter, and make sure IT works. Set it to measure resistance and make sure you get 0 resistance on a direct connection between both probes.

Next, test the connection between the connection to the data pin and the ground pin. There will be a measureable amount of resistance, but not an absolute amount. However, if you have no resistance, that means you've got a short between the two connections. Next, test the connection between the data pin and the collector side of the emitter. Also ensure that power flows in both directions across the relay coil (to test the diode). Next make sure that both contacts of the appliance side of the relay have no electrical connection to any other part of the circuit. If they are not absolutely electrically isolated, you have a problem.

Step 5: Programming the Circuit

Controlling the data pins on the parallel port is easy enough, but how you do so will depend on the language and operating system that you are planning to use. Sample source for several different languages and platforms will be included here at a later date. Note that getting the relay to turn on and off is just the beginning. You'll likely require more programming to perform your desired application.

Step 6: Let there be Light!

Now the fun part, connect everything up, run your program and turn the light on and off. Of course, once the novelty of a flashing light has worn off, you'll want to consider other possibilities. Keep in mind, the transistor doesn't have to be connected to a relay. It can drive a simple LED or in the case of a small DC lamp, you could connect that in line with the transistor and bypass the relay. In this case, since you wouldn't have a coil absorbing current, you wouldn't require an opposing diode, but you will want to add a resistor in line with the lamp to prevent overheating. Use ohms law to determine what size of a resistor you'll need depending on the resistace of the lamp.

Since you effectively have a switch replacement, either the relay or the transistor can replace or work in parallel to a switch in any other appliance. Say you have a small toy that operates by the push of a button. That button will be connected to the circuitry of the toy by two wires (as you would expect). Extract the button and connect those wires instead to the relay contacts, and you can now activate the toy by simulating a button push with your software.

Also, there are 8 data pins on the parallel port, and an additional 5 pins you can use for this purpose as well, although there will be logic and programming differences to use them. Each pin requires a complete circuit identical to the first one, although they all share the same common ground and can all share the same 12V relay power source.