2022 2nd International Conference on Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Intelligent System (ICE3IS), 4-5 November 2022
2022 2nd International Conference on Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Intelligent System (ICE3IS) | 978-1-6654-6541-0/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICE3IS56585.2022.10010040
Relay Module IoT Devices for Remote Controlling
of Home Automation System
Riky Tri Yunardi
Department of Engineering
Faculty of Vocational
Universitas Airlangga
Surabaya, Indonesia
rikytriyunardi@vokasi.unair.ac.id
Aji Akbar Firdaus
Department of Engineering
Faculty of Vocational
Universitas Airlangga
Surabaya, Indonesia
aa.firdaus@vokasi.unair.ac.id
Muhammad Najib ‘Abdulloh
Department of Engineering
Faculty of Vocational
Universitas Airlangga
Surabaya, Indonesia
m-najib-abdulloh-2018@vokasi.unair.ac.id
Sisca Dina Nur Nahdliyah
Department of Engineering
Faculty of Vocational
Universitas Airlangga
Surabaya, Indonesia
sisca-dina-nur-n@vokasi.unair.ac.id
Karisma Trinanda Putra
Department of Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
karisma@ft.umy.ac.id
Abstract— Remote controlling of home automation system
has the potential to help people to control the electronic and
home appliance from anywhere. Internet of things (IoT) is
proposed to provide the connect and control devices by using
the internet network. IoT based switching relays can be used to
easily disconnect and connect 220V AC voltage in the home. In
this work, ESP8266 microcontroller with relays module to
switch and control the home appliances. The internet signal
from Wi-Fi is captured by the ESP8266, the microcontroller
will send commands according to the instructions from the
smartphone remotely. System testing is carried out to
determine the performance of the system can work according
to design. The three parameters in the system test are the
response of the microcontroller to the smartphone application,
the response of the relay to the microcontroller, and the
response of the electrical device to the relay.
onboard Wi-Fi which can be controlled and managed on all
electrical appliances in the house. The passive infrared
sensor (PIR) motion sensor is installed at the entrance of the
building to detect human movement which triggers input for
the microcontroller.
Keywords— Relay module, internet of things devices, remote
controlling, home automation system
I. INTRODUCTION
Home automation or smart home can be described as a
technology that is used in the home environment to provide
comfort, security, and energy efficiency for its occupants [1].
To improve home automation, connecting a control system
to electronic equipment that can be remotely controlled can
be a good solution. Using servers and networks, residents can
use a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection to control their home
appliances. The system using IoT, can control electrical
equipment through an easy-to-use web interface and can
connect to the network, Da Xu, et.al and Ahmad, et.al can
identify many opportunities to build computing applications
and systems using communication networks [2][3]. In
addition, this system can relate to various types of devices
such as smartphones and personal computers. The Internet of
things (IoT) creates technological innovations with
computing that help enhance the capabilities of electronic
devices by supporting safety and cost efficiency [4].
Kodali et al. [5] proposed the construction of a wireless
home security system using the Internet and announced an
alert on their IoT project. The proposed system supports two
command operations, alerts and statuses which are sent by
the system managed by the microcontroller which is
connected to Wi-Fi and is received by the user through the
mobile phone. The controller used is based on the TICC3200 Launchpad board with a microcontroller and
In recent studies, the concept of a home automation
system involving IoT has been increasingly developed and
implemented [6-8]. Different equipment will require
different services, the function commands are adjusted to the
needs of the device used. Relays function as switches that
turn on and turn off electrical devices. Taştan et al. IoTbased home automation using a mobile phone developed
from the Blynk iOS/Android interface for the application of
air conditioning and lighting device control in a room [9]. In
this way, devices at home can be monitored and controlled
via mobile devices such as smartphones easily.
In addition to convenience, the internet of things
technology allows users to remotely destroy this current from
the electrical load. Yunardi et.al use a series of residual
current devices (RCD) in electrical installations [10], so that
the user can monitor this leakage current remotely on the
electrical load in real time. The development of real-time
monitoring using the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module has also been
implemented by Putra on a power point tracking device for
solar cells [11], a system designed to transmit data to a
smartphone connected to photovoltaics, voltage sensor and
current sensor.
The proposed IoT based device is reliable and works in
real time that makes an important contribution for remotely
controlling electrical devices to achieve the goal of smart
home. Compared with other studies, the novelty of a
proposed system is reflected by using relay module IoT
devices, that easy to be replaced and operated to various
electrical devices. In this study, a relay module system for
IoT devices has been designed for remote control as a switch
that turns on and off internet-based electrical devices.
Remote controlling using a microcontroller via the internet
network is received by the microcontroller via the ESP8266.
The internet network connects the Blynk app with a
smartphone. These instructions are received by the
microcontroller through the ESP8266 and then control the
relay module. The relay module functions as a switch that
turns on and turns off electrical devices through the internet
network.
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II. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE AND SETUP
In our proposed design, the IoT devices relay module
consists of an 8-channel relay module using the ESP8266
Wi-Fi chipset which is integrated with a microcontroller. The
communication used is Wi-Fi which is connected to the
TCP/IP protocol, so the relay module can be controlled via a
smartphone with an internet network. Figure 1 shows a block
diagram of the proposed design on the system.
Fig. 1. Block Diagram of Proposed Method
microcontroller based on the instructions from the web. The
switch on the relay works according to the instructions from
the microcontroller. The microcontroller will see the state of
the switch status, and the status can also be monitored. The
microcontroller sends data in the form of logic high or low to
the relay module. The relay module which is used as the
prototype for the control device must be electrified, so the
contacts will be connected or disconnected so that the
electrical device will turn on or off. On the website, there are
several channel options to control the devices used in
electrical equipment by pressing the button on the
smartphone screen.
The proposed system works a flow chart that is compiled
based on Figure 2. When the system is turned on, the
microcontroller initializes the peripherals to be used to
control and manage device communications. The software
used as the remote control is Blynk. The first step is to
include the Blynk library and ESP8266. In the library
display, there will be a variable filled with the Auth Token
obtained from the Blynk application, the SSID and the Wi-Fi
password to be connected. This is done so that the WeMos
microcontroller can be connected to the Blynk Application
via the internet network. After the program is entered into
the microcontroller, the next step is to prepare the Blynk
application by entering the widget that will be used as a
remote control. Then testing is done whether Blynk is
already connected to the microcontroller. Internet signals
emitted from Wi-Fi are captured by the ESP8266 chipset
embedded in WeMos. This internet signal is in the form of
instructions that the user sends through the Blynk
application. The signal will then be processed into parsing
data by the microcontroller. After that, the microcontroller
will send a command to the relay. The relay will act on
instructions from the microcontroller in the form of high or
low. The high signal is a command to electrical devices to
turn on and a low signal is a command to electrical devices
to turn off. The electrical devices used are two lights and a
fan.
A. WeMos Microcontroller
The WeMos microcontroller is a development
microcontroller based on the ESP 8266 microcontroller
module. By using the Wemos, a microcontroller-based Wi-Fi
system in one of the boards that can work with Arduino,
especially for projects that carry the IOT concept. ESP8266
is a chipset that supports the Transmission Control Protocol/
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack so that the microcontroller
can connect to a Wi-Fi network using simple commands. It
has a clock of 80 MHz with 4MB of external Random
Access Memory (RAM) and supports the IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
format so it doesn't cause any disturbance to others. WeMos
microcontroller shown in Figure 3.
Fig. 2. The Workings of The System
In the proposed relay system functions as an equipment
controller. Equipment control is carried out using two
methods, namely manually and using the web via a
smartphone. The command received will be processed by the
Fig. 3. WeMos Microcontroller
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B. 8 Channel Relay
8 Channel Relay is a module which consists of 8 relays
in 1 board. The relay on the module is a Single Pole Double
Throw (SPDT) relay consisting of a common, normally
open and normally closed contact respectively. This type of
relay is capable of up to 10A and 250VAC suitable for
home appliances. The output of the relay is applied as an
electronic switch which consists of 8 HKE HRS4H-S-DC5V
relays that use 5V so that it can be connected to a
microcontroller. The relay module is equipped with a
voltage level drive with an opto-isolated digital input with
an induction damping circuit Each channel has a status
indicator indicated by an LED indicator. 8-Channel Relay
Board Module shown in Figure 4.
The pin used on this microcontroller is a digital pin. The
ground pin on the microcontroller is connected to ground on
the relay, pin 5V is connected to pin Vin on the relay, pin
D1 is connected to pin IN1 on the relay, pin D2 is pinned to
pin IN2 on the relay. The contacts on the relay used are
normally open, that is, if the contacts are not connected or
open, then electric current will not flow into the electrical
circuit.
The signal sent by the smartphone through the Blynk
application will be received by the WeMos microcontroller
and send a command to the relay, so that the relay will act.
Relays function as switches to turn on or turn off electrical
devices.
D. Hardware Design
The hardware design stage includes the layout of
components, installation of electrical devices, installation of
relay module and microcontroller. The electrical devices
used are two lamps and one fan. The wiring stage aims to
regulate the voltage to be used, in this prototype, AC and
DC voltages will be used. AC voltage are used for the
lamps, and DC voltage for the fan. Hardware designs are
shown in Figure 6.
Fig. 4. 8-Channel Relay Board Module
C. Electrical Configuration
As a controller of the prototype, the WeMos board
component is powered by DC electricity with a 3.3 V input
voltage. Power from WeMos comes from a power supply
with 5V and current up to 1000 mA. Then the relay module
that acts as a switch, which is controlled by WeMos. The
relay is powered by DC power with a 5V input voltage, and
the Ground pin of the relay is connected to the Ground pin
of WeMos. The AC power source for home appliances is
plugged into the common pin on the relay. The output of
this relay is a normally open (NO) pin, so that when the
contacts are in the open position, no electric current flows.
The prototype electrical configuration shown in Figure 5.
Fig. 5. Prototype Electrical Configuration
Fig. 6. Hardware Design
E. Visualization of Blynk Application
To build a prototype of controlling electronic devices
with an IoT system remotely online, an Android platformbased application was developed via a smartphone. This
application creates project interfaces with various input and
output components that support sending and receiving data
and represent data according to the selected components. In
Blynk application the three most important things are
Application, Server, and Library [12]. The server supports
all communication between applications and hardware. And
Libraries support communication for hardware with server
using commands. Blynk can build a graphical interface with
a widget that is useful for controlling the microcontroller
module over the Internet. From the application can display a
layout visualization and specially designed buttons are used
to facilitate the monitoring and control of the relay module.
Visualization of the Blynk application relay module control
developed is shown in Figure 7.
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TABLE II.
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Fig7. Blynk application relay module control
III. RESULTS
The proposed system testing aims to find out the work
response of the system developed on the relay module of IoT
devices. Three parameters in system testing to be analyzed.
First, the microcontroller response to the Blynk application.
Second, the response of the relay to the microcontroller.
Third, the response of electrical equipment to relays. The
response of the Blynk application to the microcontroller can
be interpreted as the ratio of time to distance. In this case, the
distance indicates the range between the microcontroller and
the smartphone. Meanwhile, the response time itself is the
time needed to control electronic equipment with the action
of a smartphone on what is generated. The first test carried
out was testing the response of the prototype to the distance.
Distances used are 1 meter, 5 meters, and 10 meters. Every
electric device will be tested 5 times. The results of testing
the response of the microcontroller to the distance can be
seen in Table I.
TABLE I.
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
TESTING THE MICROCONTROLLER RESPONSE TO THE
BLYNK AT 1, 5 AND 10 METERS
Electrical
Status
Equipment
Lamp 1
Turn On
Lamp 1
Turn On
Lamp 1
Turn On
Lamp 1
Turn On
Lamp 1
Turn On
Lamp 2
Turn On
Lamp 2
Turn On
Lamp 2
Turn On
Lamp 2
Turn On
Lamp 2
Turn On
Electric Fan
Turn On
Electric Fan
Turn On
Electric Fan
Turn On
Electric Fan
Turn On
Electric Fan
Turn On
Average Value
1 Meter
0.15
0.31
0.13
0.13
0.14
0.13
0.30
0.11
0.11
0.10
0.22
0.14
0.15
0.14
0.13
0.159
Time Response (s)
5 Meters
10 Meters
0.09
0.15
0.14
0.21
0.09
0.14
0.11
0.13
0.12
0.18
0.13
0.11
0.15
0.13
0.14
0.12
0.13
0.17
0.21
0.12
0.17
0.11
0.16
0.13
0.12
0.12
0.31
0.15
0.26
0.14
0.155
0.141
The results of the three tests indicate that the response of
the microcontroller to the Blynk button command is not
affected by distance. The three relays used have a good
response, so the response time between devices has the same
results. Response times resulting from experiments with each
other show a fast response time.
Testing the response of the relay to the microcontroller
aims to determine the condition of the relay that will be used.
Relays that are in good condition, when activated, the LED
indicator will light up and the switch on the relay will be
active. The relay response test was performed 3 times for
each relay pin used. The table II shows the test results.
Pin on
WeMos
Pin 1
Pin 1
Pin 1
Pin 2
Pin 2
Pin 2
Pin 3
Pin 3
Pin 3
TESTING THE RELAYS RESPONSE TO THE
MICROCONTROLLER
Pin Status
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Relay Channel
Number
Relay 1
Relay 1
Relay 1
Relay 2
Relay 2
Relay 2
Relay 3
Relay 3
Relay 3
Relay Status
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
The results of this test show that the relay used can
function. The 3 pins relay used can respond to the
microcontroller properly. The switch on the relay can be
activated when receiving a high signal instruction from the
microcontroller. And the LED indicator can be lit when the
relay is active.
Test the response of electrical devices to the relay. This
test aims to determine the condition of the electrical
equipment used. If the device is good, the device will quickly
respond to instructions from the relay. On the other hand, if
the device is damaged, the electrical device will not turn on
if the relay is active. This test was conducted 3 times for each
device. Table III is the result of testing the response of
electrical equipment to relays.
TABLE III.
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
TESTING THE RESPONSE OF ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT TO
RELAYS
Relay
Channel
Number
Relay 1
Relay 1
Relay 1
Relay 2
Relay 2
Relay 2
Relay 3
Relay 3
Relay 3
Pin Status
Relay Channel
Number
Relay Status
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Lamp 1
Lamp 1
Lamp 1
Lamp 2
Lamp 2
Lamp 2
Electric Fan
Electric Fan
Electric Fan
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
Turn On
The results of testing the response of electrical equipment
to relays are electrical devices that have normal conditions.
So that electrical equipment function according to the
instructions from the relay.
In addition to experiments in the laboratory room,
experiments with long range distances were also carried out.
The first experiment was carried out by sending a command
from Banyuwangi to Tulungagung as a place for installing
the relay module for IoT devices which has a distance
between cities of 350 km. For the second experiment, it was
carried out by sending orders from Tangerang to
Tulungagung which has 752 km. Experiments that have been
conducted to determine the response of the system to the
distance required to activate electrical equipment are no
different from the data in the laboratory.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this study, an IoT system was implemented capable of
controlling relay module system that can be remotely
controlled. This system is designed with Wemos
microcontroller and relay module as a switch that suggests
and turns off electrical devices. Controlled by a smartphone
with the Blynk application, it sends instructions to the
microcontroller via the internet network.
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The system that has been designed has a fairly good
performance and the system has been proven to be efficient
and reliable. Each part of the system previously tested has a
good response in receiving instructions. This can be seen
from the test results, the response of the microcontroller to
the Blynk application and the relay response to the
microcontroller can work properly. The success of
establishing a connection between the IoT board and Blynk
App, depends on the availability and speed of the internet
network. This is proven by the test results from previous
research which were only in the laboratory room. Longdistance experiments were also carried out by sending orders
from Banyuwangi to Tulungagung which has a distance
between cities of 350 km and from Tangerang to
Tulungagung which has 752 km. Thus, instructions to
electrical equipment can be done easily and quickly from
very far locations (between cities).
[11] Putra, D.F.U., Firdaus, A.A., Yunardi, R.T., Ali, M., Rosalino, A.P.
and Putra, N.P.U., 2021, July. Real-Time Monitoring of Dual-Axis
PV System Based on Internet of Things. In 2021 International
Seminar on Intelligent Technology and Its Applications (ISITIA) (pp.
349-353). IEEE.
[12] Durani, H., Sheth, M., Vaghasia, M. and Kotech, S., 2018, April.
Smart automated home application using IoT with Blynk app. In 2018
Second international conference on inventive communication and
computational technologies (ICICCT) (pp. 393-397). IEEE.
For future work, the system needs some improvements,
especially to increase the features on the relay module IoT
devices needed in the home automation system. Also, the
proposed smartphone implementation can be more
interactive on the system for decision-making purposes that
support security and cost efficiency.
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