It may seem like a simple enough
task given the enormous power of
the PC and the simple nature of the task, but it still requires a certain
minimum of knowledge and information to hand. For the purposes of this
task we will use the
MiniBee Automation Adaptor.
Firstly we will see how to connect the lamp to the MiniBee
and then how to use the BeeStep control software to switch the lamp on and
When connecting anything to a switching device like the MiniBee it
is important to ensure the voltage and current requirements of the device
(lamp) are within the specified limits of the MiniBee. In our case we will
be attaching a 9v lamp which takes 200mA of current. The MiniBee is rated
at up to 50 volts with 500mA maximum per output which makes it easily
suitable. The connection diagram below shows how the lamp is connected.
For the purposes of clarity a photo of this connection
arrangement is also shown below
As you can see from the connection arrangement we have an
external power supply (a battery) which is supplying the 9v required to
turn on the lamp. If the connections going to the MiniBee terminals were
removed and connected together the lamp would be permanently on. I.e. the
MiniBee is forming a break in the circuit until the PC instructs it to
switch on. It is important to note the polarity of the connection shown.
By that I mean which terminal of the battery is connected to the GND
terminal of the MiniBee. This should always be the negative battery
terminal. The positive battery terminal is always the one which is
connected to the lamp (or in fact any other device to be controlled such
as a motor ) .
Now the MiniBee should be connected to the computer using a standard USB
lead. This may be to a hub or directly into a USB socket on the PC itself.
As soon as you connect the MiniBee Windows will normally
alert you to the fact that something has been connected by making a short
two-tone sound. This lets you know everything is okay with the USB side.
Assuming you have installed the MinBee software on the
installation disk, it is now time to run it. The software BeeStep14
provides a means of creating a full control system sequencing the on and
offs of up to 14 independant devices, but for our immediate purposes we
will focus on just the one lamp.
The first thing to do is to tick the box which says “use
MiniBee”. This instructs the software to actually cause the switches on
the MiniBee to operate when specified. (without this tick you can test
sequences on the screen first to make sure they are correct before
actually switching external devices).
Also tick the “Mimic On” box which makes the screen display
mimic the on and off of the outputs displaying a red box for on and green
for off for each of the 14 outputs.
All we need to do now is specify a very simple control
sequence that switches the lamp on and off repeatedly. This is done by
specifying a “step” with the lamp on followed by a “step” with the lamp
off. A step is just a combination of the on/off setting for each of the 14
outputs with an associated duration, which in our case will be 2 seconds.
To create a step with output 14 (our lamp) on, just click the
button associated with output 14 and it will turn red to indicate "on"…
Then enter a duration of 2 seconds using the edit boxes …
Now add this to the sequence list using the add button….
Click on button 14 again turning it off (green) and then the Add
You can repeat this until you have a few steps with alternate
on and off of output 14. When ready, you just click on the “run” button and
you should see the lamp turning on and off. At the same time you will see
each of the steps you specified getting highlighted in turn as the
The sequence will stop when it gets to your last step. If you
want to make this continuous you can change the “next” sequence to use
entry for the last step to the number of the first. This will cause the
entire sequence to be repeated.