ETH008

Overview
The ETH008 provides eight volt free contact relay outputs with a current rating of up to 16Amp each. The module is powered from a 12vdc supply which can be regulated or unregulated. The DC input jack is 2.1mm with positive core polarity, DC supplies are required to supply at least 500mA at 12vdc. The relays are SPCO (Single Pole Change Over) types. The normally open, normally closed and common pins are all available on the screw terminals. The ETH008 is fully compatible with the ETH-RLY16 and includes the legacy ETH-RLY16 command set.
The ETH008 has additional features over the ETH-RLY16:
1. Full Factory Reset, all ETH008 firmware and settings can be reset to the original state.
2. Firmware updates, firmware in the ETH008 is fully updateable by re-flashing the board with our custom windows program. This will be made available in the event of feature updates.
3. New Command Format, the new command format allows for consistent compatibility with future boards. New commands now allow for pulsed control of relays from 100mS to 25.5 seconds.
4. TCP/IP Password Protection, it is now possible to set a password for TCP/IP protection. This is independent of the configuration password.

LED Indication
The ETH008 provides a red LED mounted immediately next to each relay to indicate whether it is in a powered state (LED on), there is also two LED's mounted in the Ethernet connector which will flash with Ethernet traffic. Finally there is green power LED just above the processor.

Relay Power Rating
If the contact load voltage and current of the relay are in the region enclosed by the solid and dotted lines in the figure below, the relay can perform stable switching operation. If the relay is used at a voltage or current exceeding this region, the life of the contacts may be significantly shortened.

load type	Typical applications	Rating	Max DC load capacity
AC1	Non inductive or slightly inductive loads	16A @ 250V AC
AC15	Control of electromagnetic load (>72VA)	3A @ 120V AC 1.5A @ 240V AC
AC3	Control of motor	750W
DC1	Non inductive or slightly inductive loads	16A @ 24V DC
DC13	Control of electromagnetic loads	0.22A @ 120V DC 0.1A @ 250V DC

First Test
Having plugged in your 12vdc power supply and Ethernet connection, start up your web browser and type http://eth008 into the address bar, please note this only works in windows. You will be prompted for a password as shown below:

This web page will allow you to switch the relays on and off by clicking the relay buttons (the red/gray circles). It also contains a link to this technical documentation page.

Configuration
By clicking the configuration link it's possible to configure the ETH008 IP address and subnet mask together with the ability to set a password for entry to control screens. The ETH008 now also offers the option to set a password that will be required to change any of the relay states using TCP IP commands, this is explained in the TCP/IP password section.
All settings are saved to memory so be careful to remember the username and password! Default password settings are shown in the picture below.
Version 2 now offers a latched outputs option, this will automatically save any permanent output changes (not pulsed) and restore them following power loss.

Factory Reset
Should it be necessary to reset the ETH008 to its shipped condition then the end two contacts of PL2 (the row of 5 holes near the large chip) on the side nearest the Ethernet connection must be shorted together at board power up. The green LED should then flash as the settings are reset, please wait until the LED finishes flashing and do not remove power during this period.

Firmware Updates
The firmware is fully updateable by re-flashing the board using our custom windows program. The updates currently available are:
V3 - 08/04/2014 - DNS and Gateway removed in http config page as they were not required, new latching function added to config and board name now appears correctly on NBNS (WINS) meaning routers display board name.
V4 - 11/07/2014 - ASCII messages added in tcp, security now on all http pages, http set output commands added
V5 - 13/08/2014 - Fixed ASCII command buffer overruns
V6 - 25/02/2015 - Corrected issue with http password length of 12 characters
V7 - 01/12/2016 - Added numbering to relays on html page

First you need to connect to the board, the program will scan the local network and provide any boards in a list that it can see.

Next you will need to specify what port the board is located on, this will be 17494 unless you have changed it in the settings.

If there is a TCP/IP password the program will require it to be entered by clicking the password button.

Following a successful connection you will now be able to click the update button to select a file

Once the file has been opened the programming sequence will now begin, it's fairly short and following it's completion the board will reset (automatically) and the LED will flash quickly while the programming sequence completes. Do not turn the power off in this sequence.

ETH008 Command Set
The ETH008 has a new and enhanced command set designed to provide consistent expansion and new features. They are sent over TCP/IP on port 17494 (0x4456). This is the default port, it can be changed in the configuration settings.

Command		Action
dec	hex	Action
16	10	Get Module Info, returns 3 bytes. Module Id (19 for ETH008), Hardware version, Firmware version.
32	20	Digital active - follow with 1-8 to set relay on, then a time for pulsed output from 1-255 (100ms resolution) or 0 for permanent Board will return 0 for success, 1 for failure
33	21	Digital inactive - follow with 1-8 to turn relay off, then a time for pulsed output from 1-255 (100ms resolution) or 0 for permanent Board will return 0 for success, 1 for failure
35	23	Digital set outputs - the next single byte will set all relays states, All on = 255 (11111111) All off = 0 Board will return 0 for success, 1 for failure
36	24	Digital get outputs - sends a single byte back to the controller, bit high meaning the corresponding relay is powered
58	3A	ASCII text commands (V4+) - allows a text string to switch outputs, see section below
119	77	Get serial number - Returns the unique 6 byte MAC address of the module.
120	78	Get Volts - returns relay supply voltage as byte, 125 being 12.5V DC
121	79	Password entry - see TCP/IP password
122	7A	Get unlock time - see section below
123	7B	Log out - immediately re-enables TCP/IP password protection

Digital Active/Inactive
This is a 3 byte command:
The first byte is the command, 32 (active means on) or 33 (inactive).
Second byte is the relay number (1-8).
Third byte is the on time. Set this to zero for un-timed operation, or 1-255 for a pulse in 100mS intervals (100mS to 25.5 seconds).
For example:
0x20 - turn the relay on command
0x03 - relay 3
0x32 (50) - 5 seconds (50 * 100ms)
Board will return 0 for success, 1 for failure
Note - All bytes in a command must be sent in one TCP/IP packet .

TCP/IP Password
If this option is enabled in the http configuration page then a password will be required to be entered before relay states can be changed. In the following example the password was set to "apple":

0x79 - 1st byte in frame sent to ETH008 to indicate password entry
'a' (0x61) - 2nd byte in frame (ASCII hex equivalent in brackets, full table is available at http://www.asciitable.com/)
'p' (0x70) - 3rd byte in frame
'p' (0x70) - 4th byte in frame
'l' (0x6C) - 5th byte in frame
'e' (0x65) - 6th byte in frame

These 6 bytes are then transmitted in the same transaction to the ETH008 and if the password is correct then 1 will transmitted back, a failure will send 2.
The board will now accept changes from the device that entered the password. If communication becomes idle for more than 30 seconds then the password protection is re-enabled. There is also a log-out command of 0x7B to enable the protection immediately.

Get Unlock Time
Returns TCP/IP password protection status:
0 - password protection is enabled and password entry is required before changes can be made
1 to 30 - seconds until TCP/IP password protection is re-enabled. All authorised commands set the timer back to 30 seconds (including this one).
255 - TCP/IP password is not enabled.

ASCII text commands DOA and DOI (V4+ firmware needed)
Following customer request we have added a feature that allows the outputs to be switched using an ASCII string, devices like a Mobotix camera can now switch relays with simple strings.
The string for activating output1 for 5 seconds is formatted using comma seperated variables with the following syntax:
":DOA,1,50,password"
To break this down ":" (hex 3A) at the start of the string indicates that there is an ASCII message to follow, "DOA" is digital output active, "1" is the output number, then "50" for 5 seconds (50x100ms) and finally the TCP password (if applicable).
If I wanted to make output 2 inactive for 3 seconds I would use:
":DOI,2,30,password"
To break this down ":" (hex 3A) at the start of the string indicates that there is an ASCII message to follow, "DOI" is digital output inactive, "2" is the output number, then "30" for 3 seconds (30x100ms) and finally the TCP password (if applicable).
Assuming no password is used the previous command would simply be:
":DOI,2,30 "

TCP/IP Legacy Commands
The ETH008 supports the full legacy ETH-RLY16 command set.

HTML commands DOAx and DOIx (V4+ firmware needed)
Another customer requested feature, allowing the digital outputs to be switched by the http get function such as used in some voice over ip phones (VOIP). You can use the http get function to write to the io.cgi file with the following syntax:
192.168.0.200/io.cgi?DOA2=10
This would use the default address (192.168.0.200) and make output 2 active for 1 second.
Another example would be to set output 1 inactive for 10 seconds:
192.168.0.200/io.cgi?DOI1=10
You can test these functions by typing them directly into the address bar of most internet browsers. Also be aware that you may need to disable http authentication in the http configuration if your control device does not support it.

IP Addresses & DHCP Servers
The easiest way to use the ETH008 is to connect it to a network with a DHCP server. In this case the ETH002 will have its IP address assigned automatically by the DHCP server.

If there is no DHCP server on the network, then a fixed IP address of 192.168.0.200 is used. To control the ETH008 using this fixed IP address your computer MUST be on the same subnet.
The next step is to set your computers IP address to 192.168.0.x where x is in the range of 1 to 255 but not 200 (the ETH008 is there!) or any other used IP addresses on the network.
The subnet mask dictates what IP addresses the PC can communicate with, we set this to 255.255.255.0 so the PC can talk to any module with an IP address of 192.168.0.x

This image is for a PC running Windows 7.
To get to the TCP/IP properties screen, go to:
Control Panel->Network and Sharing Center->Local Area Connection->Properties.
Select Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) from the scroll box and click Properties.

That gets you to the dialog box shown left.

Test program and example source code
To get the ETH008 up and running in the minimum amount of time we have put together an example program to demonstrate the functionality of the module. We provide the full source code for this program. You may examine this code to see how it works or use it as a starting point for your own application.

Visual studio express C# examples
The test program is available as Visual C# express ready built installation files here, or as Visual C# express project with source files here.
Visual studio express is provided free from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/exPress/download/

Access from the Internet
The ETH008 can be controlled over the internet almost as easily as on your local network. Your network will most likely be connected to the internet with a broadband router. This will provide NAT (Network Address Translation) and Firewall services. To access the ETH008 from the internet you will need to open up port 17494 (0x4456) to allow incoming TCP connections. Be careful not to open up any other ports. There are a wide variety of routers and we cannot give details for all of them. If in doubt ask your system administrator for assistance. The following shows how to open up a port on a Netgear DG834 router.

After logging on to your routers setup page, the first thing to do is create a new service. Click on the "Services" menu then "Add Custom Service". Enter a name for the service, select TCP and enter the ETH008's port address for both the start and finish ports. Click "Apply".

Now go to the "Firewall Rules" menu and click "Add" in the Inbound services section. Select the ETH008 service and ALLOW always. The "Send to LAN Server" IP address is the ETH008's IP address, 192.168.0.99 in the example above but check what it is on your network. Click "Apply" and that's it. The ETH008 is now accessible over the internet. Before you close the routers setup pages, go to the "Router Status" menu and make a note of its ADSL port IP address. This is the routers internet facing IP address.

To test this you will need a computer that has its own internet connection and is NOT connected to the same network as the ETH008. Download and run the test program above and select Custom IP. In the pop-up box enter your routers internet facing IP address. Click on "Try IP" and it will connect you to the ETH008 just as if it were on your own network.

Android & iPhone Apps.
We have a free app IO network available for Android and iPhone to remotely control your relays, download from Google Play or iTunes. Search for "Devantech" and you will find the app.