Controlling 32 lights with the Raspberry Pi

[orion538]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a way to control 32 lights/(230V or 12V).
I have been looking at the components to do this, but have been unable to find exactly what I am looking for.

There are a lot of 8 channel relay boards available, but they seem incapable of being daisy chained.

The Raspberry Pi seems like a great device to service this purpose (Though if you know something else that might work better, let me know!).

So I am looking for:

• 32 channel relay board (or 4x8 daisy chained/cascaded)
• Preferably prebuilt (ignore price)
• Certified and approved components
• Isolated

Thank you for the effort.

[Tarcas]

No, you can't daisy chain a relay board, but what you can use is a GPIO port expander. These can be daisy chained if necessary.

I don't know about 32-relay boards, but 4 8-relay or 2 16-relay boards would work just as well.

I also don't know about finding a solution prebuilt, but seeing your "ignore price" comment, you might just make an offer here and/or on an electronics forum and see if someone takes you up on it.

[Ravenous]

I don't know of an immediate solution, but on the Magpi magazine I have seen recent adverts for output boards that can handle lots of output pins. For each pin you would need a driver (maybe a transistor or two) to run the light, or an LED, or a relay which runs the mains light. So quite a lot of construction would be required.

So I would start by looking for one of those output boards first.

[SteveSpencer]

Your biggest problem may be the "certified and approved" part.
Depending on where you live, installing relays onto your mains ring may require inspection/certification, irrespective of the approval status of the parts you've used, or you could find yourself with a problem in the event of something like a house fire. Your insurer would say that by making non-certified changes you void the policy.
Not that I'm suggesting you would be the cause, but that's how they operate.

[FLYFISH TECHNOLOGIES]

Hi,

I have been looking at the components to do this, but have been unable to find exactly what I am looking for.

If suggestions/solutions from other replies don't sufficiently meet your requirements, you contact me with a private message (of via the web page listed in my signature) and we can discuss about providing you a turn-key solution tailored to your requirements.


Best wishes, Ivan Zilic.

[mfa298]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a way to control 32 lights/(230V or 12V).
I have been looking at the components to do this, but have been unable to find exactly what I am looking for.

It might help to know what you're trying to achieve. One thought for that number of lights is to look at one of the protocols used for controlling lights and home automation (the only one I know much about is DMX used for lighing in the entertainment industry but there are a couple of similar protocols for home automation). These generally use low power signalling to control a light which has it's own local power source.

[tedhale]

I am controlling lights in my house using the X10 protocol (see http://www.x10.com/ for more info. Cheaper but compatible devices can be found elsewhere.)
This is connected to my Pi via an X10 computer interface on a serial connection.
I don't control anywhere near that many lights, but the X10 protocol will support up to 256 addressable devices.
And, the devices should all be "certified".
My primary complaint about X10 is that it can be unreliable and slow.

[orion538]

Hi guys,

Thank you so much for the help but I found a company that supplies exactly what I need:
http://www.deweerd-emst.nl/catalog/prod ... s_id=43253 (dutch website)

I am situated in the Netherlands and was shocked that this company was so close to me.

Thanks again for the help. At first I thought I'd have to build it myself with either an Arduino or Raspberry Pi, but this seems like a better solution.

[johndough]

Hi guys,

Thank you so much for the help but I found a company that supplies exactly what I need:
http://www.deweerd-emst.nl/catalog/prod ... s_id=43253 (dutch website)

I am situated in the Netherlands and was shocked that this company was so close to me.

Thanks again for the help. At first I thought I'd have to build it myself with either an Arduino or Raspberry Pi, but this seems like a better solution.

Hi

That appears to be a 32 input device.

IPIO-32I-M DIN-rail Webrelais module with 32 inputs € 389.00

There are no outputs listed that I can see.

IPIO-32I-M DIN rail Webrelais module with 32 inputs

IPIO-32R-M DIN rail Webrelais module with 32 outputs is a different device entirely.

They no doubt inter-connect, but the method isn't obvious. Indeed you may only need the 32 output module if it can communicate with a Pi using software, and/or a smart phone.

IPIO-32R-M DIN-rail Webrelais moduul met 32 uitgangen € 469.00

Caveat Emptor.

[Stese]

Another option you could have considered is using 2 MCP23017 GPIO Expanders on an I2C bus, giving 32 pins to drive relays or other switching circuits.

With I2C you can run 128 connections, and with the same chip type (MCP32S17) will do 256 on and spi bus.