Relay Controller

Version 1.0.25 - March 2025

Relay Controller is an app that allows you to control a USB HID relay board (x1, x2, x4 and x8 channels) that is connected to a USB port on your Windows PC, laptop or tablet.

This will then allow you to switch the power to connected equipment (e.g. lights, fans, motors, etc) on and off over a timed schedule.

The Relay Controller app can alter the on/off state of each of the relay channel switches when the following combinations of conditions (triggers) are met:

immediately OR...
specific times of day
specific days of the week, single days or all days
specific dates of the year.

You can also:

add a sequence of commands for each switch that will occur during each trigger event in order to provide combinations of switch on, off, delay and repeat command sequences.
assign a keyboard key to each switch to allow you to turn the switches on and off at any time by pressing the keys on the keyboard.
run the app from a batch file or by process launching from other apps

Video demonstrations of the Relay Controller app

Demo of App v1.0.0

Demo of additional features in App v1.0.22

Please note: The Relay Controller app continues to be developed and contains additional features that are not shown in the videos.

The Release notes (below) provide a list of all the new features and fixes.

You can find detailed information on how to use all the app features in the User Guide PDF which is available from the 'Help' button in the app itself.

Compatible USB HID Relay Boards

The Relay Controller app only supports USB HID compliant relay boards that can be programmed by third party apps. When plugged in, these boards are automatically recognized by Windows as a USB device and they do not require any drivers to be installed.

IMPORTANT: When purchasing a board to use with the Relay Controller app, please make sure that the supplier states that their boards can be controlled by the usb_relay_device DLL / development library.

One way to find compatible boards is to search ebay for the following: 'usb_relay_device.dll' and it will show you a list of boards that are compatible with the Relay Controller app...

Click these links to show a list of suppliers of compatible boards:

USA:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/usb_relay_device.dll

UK:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/usb_relay_device.dll

IMPORTANT: The 4 channel and 8 channel relay boards require powering with a separate 5V DC power supply with an input current of more than 300mA.
The 1 channel and 2 channel relay boards take their power from the USB cable.

Obtaining the Relay Controller App

Click this button to download the latest version of
the Relay Controller app:

Download

Please note that the app will work in Evaluation Mode until you buy a Product Code. In Evaluation Mode the app is fully functional to allow you to test it, but a message box will appear at random times. This will pause the app until you click on the message box to remove it.

IMPORTANT: The Relay Controller App has been tested to run on Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems only. It might run on earlier versions of Windows, but technical support (or fixes) for versions older than Windows 10 will not be provided.
The Relay Controller App does not run on Linux or Apple Mac operating systems.

Click this button to buy a Product Code that you can enter into the Relay Controller App to remove Evaluation Mode:

BUY A PRODUCT CODE

$29 ex VAT

Enquiries and Technical Support

Contact

Relay Controller App - Release Notes
1.0.25 - 3/3/25

Add the 'Schedule repeat count' indicator

1.0.24 - 16/2/25

Add the setting: Start next instance

1.0.23 - 23/01/25

Add the Setting: Show debug panel
Remove the Close button on the Switch panels

1.0.22 - 23/12/24

Allow switches to be named
Add interactive switch button images onto the switch panels to allow turning switches on and off using mouse clicks
Add new Switch panel settings:
- Visible when app is minimised
- On top
Improve switch time synchronisation and reduce timing drift

1.0.21 - 30/6/24

Fix: Running a schedule from a Command line parameter had problems when a relay board was not attached

1.0.20 - 15/6/24

Fix: Switch keys now correctly initialised

1.0.19 - 6/6/24

Add the option to include the '+' character with Key trigger command Wait values. This allows the remaining ON time for a switch to be increased by pressing the keyboard key that is associated with the trigger.

1.0.18 - 2/4/24

Add the Repeat option to schedules. Allows a completed schedule to be restarted from the beginning
Improve the accuracy of the main timer

1.0.17 - 23/4/24

Add the Continue option to schedules

1.0.16 - 18/4/24

Add the Key Trigger type. This allows individual triggers to be activated by pressing a specific key on the keyboard.

1.0.15 - 14/3/24

Updated to ship with Microsoft .Net Framework v4.6.2

1.0.14 - 5/3/24

Fix: App was crashing when sending commands to the 8th switch on an 8 channel relay board

1.0.12 - 20/2/24

Improve the trigger UI rendering speed
Trigger Up/Down buttons are now repeat buttons

1.0.11 - 1/2/24

Add spaces automatically to the schedule command text
Increase the size of the schedule UI
Add the setting: Run schedule - Allows a specific schedule to automatically run when the app first starts
Add the setting: Restart app between triggers
Remove optimisations from the Release build
Fix: Prevent triggers starting multiple times at the designated start time
Fix: Prevent running multiple app instances

1.0.10 - 22/11/23

Add the Next trigger type. This allows a sequence of triggers to occur one after the other without waiting for a specific time or date to occur
Fix: Prevent random crashes when using the Keyboard hook setting

1.0.9 - 29/8/23

Prevent crash in certain schedules

1.0.8 - 19/3/23

Fix: Allow Single Trigger schedule files to run from the command line

1.0.7 - 9/2/23

Add the Switch panels feature. This shows the state of each switch in a separate window, including on/off times.
Poll for a relay board connection in a background thread

1.0.6 - 17/10/22

Add On/Off and Toggle option to the Switch keys feature
Add the Switch state display

v1.0.5 - 2/8/22

Add the Watchdog feature
Add the Keyboard hook feature

v1.0.4 - 22/7/22

Fix: Prevent the app crashing if a board is not connected and the app is trying to issue a switch command

v1.0.3 - 5/7/22

Add support for more USB HID relay boards

v1.0.2 - 14/4/22

Added the feature for running a Single Trigger Schedule File as a Command Line parameter. This will cause the Relay Controller to load and run the schedule, then close immediately after the schedule has completed. This is useful when you want to control the relay switches from the Windows command line or from other applications.

v1.0.1 - 29/11/21

Added the Switch Toggle Keys feature

v1.0.0 - 26/03/21

First release

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