How To Control A Solenoid With A Raspberry Pi Using a Relay

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Demonstrated here is an easy way to control a 12 Volt Solenoid and a 5V Relay using a GPIO Pin on a Raspberry Pi.
Article with Code - https://core-electronics.com.au/tutorials/solenoid-control-with-raspberry-pi-relay.html

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Solenoids are immensely useful way to turn electrical energy into a linear motion. Solenoids come in a variety of different specs with 5 Volt and 12 Volt being very common for makers. So today we will activate the stronger 12 Volt solenoid using the Raspberry Pi GPIO (General Purpose Input and Output) Pin with a Relay module in between the two. A relay is an electrically operated switch and we need one for this because the 12 Volts that the Solenoid requires to operate would fry the Raspberry Pi if directly connected to that voltage as the maximum voltage it can take is 5 Volts. It can also deal with voltage spikes. Here you can find schematics, how to wire it up correctly and how to write code to activate and deactivate any 12V solenoid. I even show how you can control it directly from your mobile phone. Shown here is a latch solenoid but there are more traditional plunger type solenoid and even liquid solenoids.

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Core Electronics is located in the heart of Newcastle, Australia. We're powered by makers, for makers. Drop by if you are looking for:

Latch Solenoid 12V (used here): https://core-electronics.com.au/catalog/product/view/sku/ROB-15324

5V Single Channel Relay Module 10A (used here): https://core-electronics.com.au/catalog/product/view/sku/CE05137

Raspberry Pi HAT 3X Relay: https://core-electronics.com.au/catalog/product/view/sku/CE04864

Plastic Water Solenoid 12V: https://core-electronics.com.au/catalog/product/view/sku/ADA997

Brass Liquid Solenoid 12V: https://core-electronics.com.au/catalog/product/view/sku/ADA996

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2GB: https://core-electronics.com.au/catalog/product/view/sku/CE06424

12V DC 2A Fixed 2.1mm Plugpack: https://core-electronics.com.au/catalog/product/view/sku/AM8936

0:00 Intro and Schematic
0:10 Overview of Video
0:29 What You Will Need
1:47 Schematic and Build
3:13 Coding the Raspberry Pi
3:50 Its Working!
4:00 Quickly Explaining the Code
5:20 Control It With Your Phone
5:33 Other Relay Types and Methods to Control
6:00 Outro