Controlling one 110 volts appliance safely with .NET (C#, VB.NET, F# or PowerShell)

Overview

Turning on and off an 110 volts appliance from a computer like a Raspberry PI/Python or a PC with an our device Nusbio.net using any .NET language, is not per say difficult.

You need one GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) connected to what is called a Relay. A Relay looks like that.

 

The issue is that you must make the wiring yourself and this can be slightly dangerous. 

Solution

The company Digital-loggers introduced recently the IOTRelay. The IOTRealy takes care of every thing, it is safe, solid, easy to connect to and affordable $20.

• On the side connect the cable to one of your outlet.
• On the top you have 4 outlets
• 2 are labelled normally ON, this is the one you will use to plug into your lamp,
  fan or toaster. Though we have 2 outlets, they are not independent.
• 2 are labelled normally OFF, and turn the appliances when the IOTRelay is programmed to be off. I am not sure that this will be very useful.

 

Video

 

The wiring is simple:

• Connect any of the 8 Nusbio's GPIO to the positive of the IOT Relay. 
• Connect the negative of the IOT Relay to Nusbio's Ground.

Nusbio board + IOTRelay $36

Programming

From a software point of view all you have to do is turn the GPIO on or off to power your appliances.
Nusbio is compatible with C#, VB.NET, F# and PowerShell.

  nusbio[0].High(); // Turn appliance on
  nusbio[0].Low();  // Turn appliance off