using a smart relay as a data logging stopwatch

This might be a bit out of the box:

I want to try an use a smart relay to gather data, specifically start and stop times, times in between operations and what kind of time it is (manual setup, automatic, etc.)

I would also like to be able to upload the data gathered into a spreadsheet.

is this possible?

Googling "smart relay" turned up the IDEC SmartRelay FL1F, which claims: " Enable you to view I/O status, change analog set points, and Timer and Counter value with your iPhone, iPad or Android devices."

Basic requirements look possible, not so sure about upload to a spreadsheet.

I would use a Click PLC from Automation Direct.
https://www.automationdirect.com/clickplcs/hardware/click-cpu#standard-e
http://accautomation.ca/click-plc-system-hardware/

An Ethernet port is built into the PLC unit and will communicate using Modbus TCP protocol.
Here is the programming using VBA in excel to get the information from the PLC.
http://accautomation.ca/how-to-implement-modbus-tcp-protocol-using-vba-with-excel/

Hope this helps you out.
Regards,

One word of caution is that any "smart relays" I've used have had very inaccurate clocks. Either they lose the time when powered off, they just gain/lose time at a rapid pace, or they simply didn't have an internal clock at all.

I'd say what you want to do is probably possible though. I'm amazed that so much of that IoT type technology (data logging, web pages, ethernet comms) is appearing in smart relays almost as fast as full fledged PLCs 10-100x the cost.

The Click that I have recommended above is a PLC with a real time clock.
You could also communicate serially to the unit using VBA. (Modbus RTU)
Here is an example of serial communication using VBA.
http://accautomation.ca/how-to-implement-the-omron-host-link-protocol-part-2-vba/

Another option is to use AdvancedHMI.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/advancedhmi/
This will have allot of the drivers already programmed into the software. You can then communicate to an excel spreadsheet from this software.
http://advancedhmi.com/forum/index.php?topic=786.0

Regards,