USB Relay on Ubuntu Linux
I am starting off with this hardware:
KNACRO 4-Channel 12V USB Control Switch Relay Module
This was fairly easy but not where I wanted to be. I found a library that did a ton of things for me.
Thank you to @darrylb123 for https://github.com/darrylb123/usbrelay
There was a python contribution but it broke the build. I spent a few hours trying to get it to build and gave up and just smashed the ugly.
Wrapping C++ code in python isn’t super tough but it takes a lot of time and running through iterations of compilation. Sending it to a process is fairly simple and given the amount of time I will be doing it will give me more time to focus on other things. I’ll come back to this later after I’m out of urgent prototype mode.
USB Relay Driver
With HID I was able to see the device/chip in lsusb right away.
I installed the library above from apt and it ran out of the box.
I scripted a tool that will send commands to a sub process. I just need to send and forget. I probably wont use the results of the commands right now. Each time the application loads I will need to get the names of the devices however because I really don’t want that hard coded. I am hard coding each relay because I would like the ability to control things uniquely. I’m probably going to use it to turn on seat heaters in the future as well.
I will say that not everything clicked out of the box. I had to install a few things. Here are just some highlights to my notes which you might be able to follow and if not there are comments below.
apt install firmware-b43-installer
apt install git vim openssh-server
systemctl enable ssh
apt install python3
apt install libpython3.7-dev
apt install libhidapi*
apt-get install python3-distutils
apt install python3-pip
git clone https://github.com/darrylb123/usbrelay.git
git checkout tags/v0.4 -b v0.4
Interacting With The Relay
The results come back showing the device with the list of the relays.
Notice this was build with HIDRAW vs HIDUSB lib. I don’t know what the differences are but on some platforms they perform differently.
$> usbrelay
Device Found
type: 16c0 05df
path: /dev/hidraw0
serial_number:
Manufacturer: www.dcttech.com
Product: USBRelay4
Release: 100
Interface: 0
Number of Relays = 4
QAAMZ_1=0
QAAMZ_2=0
QAAMZ_3=0
QAAMZ_4=0
I will take the relay names and add them to an array in the code and just replace the numeric ID. The integer at the end is the boolean.
NOTE: It doesn’t hurt to send similar signals to a relay. (or doesn’t seem to) Meaning if it’s on I can send another on and it doesn’t do anything. Same with off.
To get an idea of the code running this:
if __name__ == "__main__":
print("Relay Trip")
# get the list of relays
result = subprocess.check_output(['usbrelay'])
results = result.decode().strip().splitlines()
devices = {}
for res in results:
key, val = res.split('=')
devices[key] = int(val)
print(devices)
args = parser.parse_args()
c1 = args.channel1
c2 = args.channel2
c3 = args.channel3
c4 = args.channel4
for device, state in devices.items():
if device.endswith(f"_1"):
subprocess.check_output(['usbrelay', f"{device}={c1}"])
if device.endswith(f"_2"):
subprocess.check_output(['usbrelay', f"{device}={c2}"])
if device.endswith(f"_3"):
subprocess.check_output(['usbrelay', f"{device}={c3}"])
if device.endswith(f"_4"):
subprocess.check_output(['usbrelay', f"{device}={c4}"])
Below is the test results at prob 1am so don’t mind my groggy voice.
USB Relay on Macbook Pro
I didn’t really know what I was getting into and I do all of my initial research on Mac. So I decided to start there.
Everything is easier on Mac right?
Chipset Variants
There are two variants of USB relays that I am working with. An FTDI and HID version.
The HID version is supposedly able to be picked up by the system as soon as it’s plugged in so that is what I started with.
There is no lsusb so I had look up what Mac uses. This site helped me out: https://pim.famnit.upr.si/blog/index.php?/archives/165-OS-X-equivalent-to-lsusb.html
system_profiler SPUSBDataType
The data did show me that I was nested. It went through a USB 3.0 hub to a 2.0 hub then down to the device. There was a lot of other things being picked up here that were overlocked. At first I wasn’t sure what I was looking for then saw the name which matched the board. I kinda expected more of a GUID so IDK what will happen if I plug in more of these.
USB 3.0 Bus:
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCISPT
PCI Device ID: 0xa12f
PCI Revision ID: 0x0031
PCI Vendor ID: 0x8086
USB2.0 Hub:
Product ID: 0x2813
Vendor ID: 0x2109 (VIA Labs, Inc.)
Version: 90.11
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: VIA Labs, Inc.
Location ID: 0x14600000 / 15
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 0
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
USB 2.0 Hub:
Product ID: 0x0801
Vendor ID: 0x1a40 (TERMINUS TECHNOLOGY INC.)
Version: 1.00
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Location ID: 0x14640000 / 16
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
USB 2.0 BILLBOARD :
Product ID: 0x0100
Vendor ID: 0x2109 (VIA Labs, Inc.)
Version: 2.01
Serial Number: 0000000000000001
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: VIA Technologies Inc.
Location ID: 0x14644000 / 20
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
USBRelay4:
Product ID: 0x05df
Vendor ID: 0x16c0
Version: 1.00
Speed: Up to 1.5 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: www.dcttech.com
Location ID: 0x14620000 / 25
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 20
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
And there it is. USBRelay4
System Report
There is another way to get to this
- About This Mac
- System Report
- Hardware > USB
Brew U
Apparently I could have just installed via brew. :|
brew install lsusb
$> lsusb
2019-03-18 18:36:56.382 system_profiler[48402:1885449] SPUSBDevice: IOCreatePlugInInterfaceForService failed 0xe00002be
Bus 020 Device 015: ID 2109:2813 VIA Labs, Inc. USB2.0 Hub
Bus 020 Device 016: ID 1a40:0801 TERMINUS TECHNOLOGY INC. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 020 Device 020: ID 2109:0100 VIA Labs, Inc. USB 2.0 BILLBOARD Serial: 0000000000000001
Bus 020 Device 025: ID 16c0:05df 16c0 USBRelay4
Bus 020 Device 017: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB2.0 Hub
Bus 020 Device 019: ID 046d:c52b Logitech Inc. USB Receiver
Bus 020 Device 018: ID 05ac:024f Apple Inc. Matias Backlit Keyboard Serial: FK318VUS
Bus 020 Device 027: ID 05ac:12a8 Apple Inc. iPhone Serial: 9dac5dde6e85ef8007a86a42a2785fea667e8bff
Bus 020 Device 000: ID 05ac:8600 Apple Inc. iBridge
Bus 000 Device 001: ID 2109:0813 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.0 Hub
Bus 000 Device 002: ID 058f:8468 Alcor Micro, Corp. Mass Storage Device Serial: 058F84688461
Bus 000 Device 001: ID 1d6b:ISPT Linux Foundation USB 3.0 Bus
Bus 000 Device 001: ID 1d6b:CIAR Linux Foundation USB 3.1 Bus
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:CIAR Linux Foundation USB 3.1 Bus
This is much easier to read anyway.
Talking To USB Relay On Mac
This is not going to be as easy as just sending bits over a COM port. I have to walk through a few layers of device controls.
There are some USB specific standards defined that I wont spend time to go into right now:
And here I am stuck. There are no drivers for it so I will bail and go work on Linux for a bit.
Sorry for the false hope.