Re: Web Enabled Time/Temp/Humidity and I/O Controller

[propman <propman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert Green wrote:
> "RickH" <passport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:8577550c-ac5e-
>
> <stuff snipped>
>
> <<I ordered one to do remote power-up / boot-up of other computers in
> the home.  Computers that I occasionally need to get to over the
> Internet (to copy files from work etc) but dont want to leave running
> all day (for network and power reasons).>>
>
> Since the company that makes these is a server farm "balancer" I suspect
> that you're doing just what they designed this to do for themselves:
> monitoring and controlling computers.  Given how much power today's superhot
> CPU's can draw, I think the question of "leave them running" or "shut them
> off" has finally been settled in favor of  shutting them off, if only for
> power saving reasons.   It's kind of funny that 20 years ago the
> conservation side of that ON/OFF debate was hardly a factor.  Certainly not
> the emissions part of things.
>
> <<Still unsure about how to do this, will probably have to wire a relay
> to the actual on/off switch on the computer and have this little guy
> trigger a remote boot by paralleling said relay across the existing
> power button.  Once the remoter computer is powered and booted, I can
> use Windows remote desktop services to do a normal shutown when I'm
> done.>>
>
> I'd try to figure out how to use wake on LAN or Modem Ring.  Even the old
> 2001 PC's I've got have that capability.  When I used to use a similar
> wakeup method (anyone remember remote modem programs like "Reachout" and
> "PCAnywhere"?) I used an X-10 phone responder and an appliance module to
> start and stop the computer and set the BIOS to reboot on power blips.  Cost
> under $50 IIRC.  I hooked up the PC to the module, plugged the responder in
> and when I dialed my home phone, after 10 rings, it would pick up, beep
> three times and then I entered a secure code and then I could touch tone 1*
> to turn on the PC and 1# to turn it off and so on for up to 16 different
> devices.
>
> In your scenario you'd replace the X-10 module with a relay - I'd probably
> wire up a 2 gang plastic box with a line cord, a relay on one side (with a
> fuse on the relay line that would blow if 110VAC ever got cross-connected)
> and an outlet on the other.  I'll bet there are code-compliant components
> for this, so I leave it to other to chastize me for running LV and line
> voltage into the same box.
>
> <<I dont mind leaving this little guy "online" all the time but dont want to
> leave my large home computers online all the time.>>
>
> I can't blame you, but in your case, I'd probably still use X-10 and a phone
> responder if I still had a phone line simply because I'm still not sure how
> secure this is all going to be over the internet.  The house sending out
> warnings and information to me or the entire world isn't so bad, it's the
> whole world activating my PC's remotely that I would worry about.  Maybe
> I'll feel differently after seeing it an action.
>
> So far, I've been busy ordering parts for it, like the Honeywell Humidistat,
> the One-wire temp sensors and a solar panel + rechargeable battery to run it
> on.  I want my unit to run completely free-standing in a worst case
> scenario.  I figure in about two years, when they discover this recession
> was a tremor preceding the "big one" the house may need to fend for itself
> off the grid.  It's probably time to start a covert ops defense program and
> put a SCIF
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Compartmented_Information_Facility
>
> in the basement where I can build my own version of the this:
>
> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/12/israeli-auto-ki/
>
> The "pan, tilt, zoom and boom" ultimate security system.  (-:  Twenty years
> ago it was a deleted scene in the movie "Aliens" and now it's a reality.

For the hobbiest...

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