Lamps (Relay board)contol by Personal Computer

You should have PLC with programme embedded into it,for switching on/off of the devices.This PLC to be connected to Computer for control and monitoring.There should be programme for this, to be developed and embedded into the computer.The computer and the PLC to be connected for communication via rs232/rs485 adopter.Then the computer programme should be capable of accepting wireless signal.

Instead of PLC you can also try with add on cards available with reputed control & Instrumentation vendors.(National Instruments)

This is one of the ways of achieving your mission which i can think of and I have implemented.May be other solutions available,and other friends might throw some more light on this matter.

I made a project once too control 8 switches from the parallel printer port. (latches and solid state relays). This design could be extended by using the 4 control signals to control 64 switches.

This can be done by accessing the control register of the port.

The home personal computer is a bit over-sized to do this job.

The best tool for the job is, as others have pointed out, a Programmable Logic Controller [PLC]. One programs them perhaps using software loaded to the personal computer, and once done the PLC can be left to do its job and the personal computer taken elsewhere.

Allen Bradley does a range of small, simple PLCs that could be adapted to do things around the home (other PLC makes are available), and they can be obtained from on-line suppliers.

The most important thing is a description of what it must do and how it must do it. It is difficult to help further as without it what follows needs to be a mere guess of the requirements.

You may want to look at www.x10.com

Here is another USB interface controller for the PC.

http://www.pc-control.co.uk/shop.htm

Thanks for the link - those look really interesting!. Do you have any idea if they are available in the USA?

Dick

I'm sure there must be some equivalent, maybe not exactly the same. You will have to do a web search and see. I had a look at the x10, which I belive is a USwebsite, mentioned in a previous post and that looks really cool - It's also a wireless control system.

Yes, we regularly ship our USB boards to the USA. It normally takes 5 - 7 days.

postage costs 6.50GBP.

Fiona Proprietor: pc-control.co.uk

fiona@pc-control.co.uk