Smart Relay vs CLICK PLC: Upgrade Your Controls & Save Money!

If you’ve found yourself needing to work on or maintain some older controls, you no doubt have run into something like this. For decades, industrial automation ran on relay logic. Rows and rows of electromechanical relays—wired together to create control circuits. It worked… but it took a lot of panel space, a lot of wiring, and a lot of time to maintain. And if you wanted to make a change? Well… Hope you brought your wire cutters. Today, you can replace all those relays with a smart relay—a compact, programmable device that gives you relay control without all the physical relays. Smart relays combine timers, counters, even some basic logic functions all in one unit. For a few hundred dollars, they’re a clean upgrade from old-school hardware and a good way to simplify small applications. But here’s the real question: Why stop at a smart relay… when, for less money and with far more capability, you can jump straight to a full-powered CLICK PLC from AutomationDirect? CLICK PLCs give you everything a smart relay can do—and so much more. • More I/O options, digital, analog, temperature • Expandable configuration so the system grows with your needs • Ethernet connectivity for networking and data • Built-in communication protocols, including Modbus, and the ability to add even more: MQTT, WiFi, Node RED, OPC UA • Faster processing and greater reliability • And best of all… the software is completely free, and everything is backed by the best customer support and tech support in the business, also free. So instead of spending more on a limited smart relay, you can invest less in a CLICK PLC and gain a true, immensely scalable control system that’s ready for real-world industrial demands. Why choose a device that tops out quickly… When you can choose one that grows with you? Make the smarter upgrade. Get industrial strength performance, free software, and amazing value— With the CLICK PLC, only from AutomationDirect. Visit AutomationDirect.com today to learn more about the Click line and thousands of other automation solutions we offer. Click here to learn more about AutomationDirect and free PLC training. Click here to see more videos about the Click line of PLCs. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel and keep informed on all new products and developments from AutomationDirect.