[2008] Multiple On/Off Timers

Hi Everyone.

I am putting together a relay timing program that is going to control 16 different relays, with at least 2 (maybe 3) on/off points each daily.
This program is going to run 24/7. Each on/off point is going to be user selected by the DateTimePicker (time only. no date). I want to set the timer intervals that trigger my relay on/off commands to only fire when needed, if possible. That way it dosent tie up the network.

I started making a program but with 32+ timers it was getting a little confusing. Can this all be done with only a few timers? Also the network was very busy. :eek: and i could not override the relay unless I disabled the timer first because it kept sending the on or off command at 1 second intervals.

I did a search but couldnt find anything that was very helpful to me.

If you cant tell, I am a noob. Any help/info would be much appreciated.

-Steve

Have a single timer that fires every minute (more or less depending on what granularity you need) and in the fire event, determine what relays need to be turned on/off.

what resolution is needed for the timers? if the resolution is not small (ms.) then you could use one timer, with a three arrays. arrayID would contain the relay id, arrayDT would contain time of next state change and arrayONOFF would contain off/on.

edit - btw - how are you controlling the relays?

you could use timespans, then you'd only need 1 timer

vb.net Code:

Public Class Form1
 
    Dim t1 As New TimeSpan(0, 0, 0)
    Dim t2 As New TimeSpan(8, 0, 0)
    Dim t3 As New TimeSpan(16, 0, 0)
 
    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        Dim timeNow As New TimeSpan(Now.Hour, Now.Minute, Now.Second)
        If timeNow > t1 And timeNow < t2 Then
            'do something
        ElseIf timeNow > t2 And timeNow < t3 Then
            'do something
        ElseIf timeNow > t3 And timeNow < New TimeSpan(24, 0, 0) Then
            'do something
        End If
    End Sub
 
end class

Code:

---

        Const numRelay As Integer = 32
        Dim relayID(numRelay - 1) As String 'relay id's
        Dim dateIsValid(numRelay - 1) As Boolean 'set to true when time is set, cleared when acted on
        Dim dateNextChange(numRelay - 1) As DateTime
        Dim OnOff(numRelay - 1) As Boolean

        relayID(0) = "Relay1" : dateIsValid(0) = True : dateNextChange(0) = DateTime.Now : OnOff(0) = True
        For x As Integer = 0 To numRelay - 1
            If dateIsValid(x) Then
                If dateNextChange(x).ToString("HH:mm") = DateTime.Now.ToString("HH:mm") Then
                    dateIsValid(x) = False
                End If
            End If
        Next

---

Thanks for the quick responses everyone.

Ok, after speaking with the customer in detail, I think I've got everything figured out on what they want.



This is what I have so far. It's basically just all of the main funtions of the form. You can get an idea of how these relays are controlled.

NOTE: keep in mind that this is very new to me so it may look a bit primative.

Code:

---

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        NcdProXR1.OpenPort()        'Opens Port
        NcdProXR1.SelectBank(1)    'Selects Bank 1
        NcdProXR2.OpenPort()
        NcdProXR2.SelectBank(1)
        NcdProXR3.OpenPort()
        NcdProXR3.SelectBank(1)
        NcdProXR4.OpenPort()
        NcdProXR4.SelectBank(1)
        NcdProXR5.OpenPort()
        NcdProXR5.SelectBank(1)
        NcdProXR6.OpenPort()
        NcdProXR6.SelectBank(1)
        NcdProXR7.OpenPort()
        NcdProXR7.SelectBank(1)
        NcdProXR8.OpenPort()
        NcdProXR8.SelectBank(1)
    End Sub


    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

        Dim t As Date
        t = Date.Now
        If t > DateTimePicker1.Value Then
            NcdProXR1.TurnOffAllRelays()  'turns off all relays on board 1
            NcdProXR2.TurnOffAllRelays()
            NcdProXR3.TurnOffAllRelays()
            NcdProXR4.TurnOffAllRelays()
            NcdProXR5.TurnOffAllRelays()
            NcdProXR6.TurnOffAllRelays()
            NcdProXR7.TurnOffAllRelays()
            NcdProXR8.TurnOffAllRelays()
        End If
    End Sub


    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        NcdProXR1.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR2.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR3.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR4.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR5.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR6.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR7.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR8.TurnOnRelay(2)    'turns on relay number 2 (HWH)
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        NcdProXR1.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR2.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR3.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR4.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR5.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR6.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR7.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
        NcdProXR8.TurnOffRelay(2)  'turns off relay number 2 (HWH)
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button4_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button4.Click
        NcdProXR1.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR2.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR3.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR4.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR5.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR6.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR7.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR8.TurnOnRelay(1)    'turns on relay number 1 (HVAC)
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        NcdProXR1.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR2.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR3.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR4.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR5.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR6.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR7.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
        NcdProXR8.TurnOffRelay(1)    'turns off relay number 1 (HVAC)
    End Sub
End Class

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Here is a picture of the layout:

http://www.electricdesignonline.com/...ad/VBimage.jpg



It looks like i will need 5 timers if I do it the way I was going to. 2 on/off controls for the HWH and 2 on/off triggers for the HVAC. And one for an "all off" date. I will just need to select (check) each building to be controlled by the corrosponding timer.

I did the code for the "all off" date to show how I was engauging the relays. My problem with how I did it is that it constantly sends a turn off relay command on every tick a long as it's activated. The timers would confilict with eachother.

Sorry for the confusion before.

-Steve

I guess I just would like to know the best way to do this. I'm open to any other suggestions as well. :D