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I was away on an extended trip, and my firewall router decided to fail safe - all it needed was a power cycle to be corrected, but I was 5000 miles away - so I had a week of no access to email, uploading my photos, etc.
Anyway my main system is UNIX and I have no problem writing a simple monitoring script to whatever rules I feel are good for me, but what I want to do is control a power outlet (or a few) using (say) the serial port. I can send the ascii, but I'll need to build the hardware side of this, such as an RS232 interface (eg a microcontroller and some I/O drivers to switch power relays) which by sending a few choice control sequences will turn on/off the outlets as I feel fit, but am I re-inventing the wheel here?
Maybe there is a home solution to this already?
I know there are commercial products that cost in the hundreds of dollars (I'm in the USA) but I was thinking low cost, simple, home solution.
I could use the same device to control my lights or other devices from a far.
Anyway my main system is UNIX and I have no problem writing a simple monitoring script to whatever rules I feel are good for me, but what I want to do is control a power outlet (or a few) using (say) the serial port. I can send the ascii, but I'll need to build the hardware side of this, such as an RS232 interface (eg a microcontroller and some I/O drivers to switch power relays) which by sending a few choice control sequences will turn on/off the outlets as I feel fit, but am I re-inventing the wheel here?
Maybe there is a home solution to this already?
I know there are commercial products that cost in the hundreds of dollars (I'm in the USA) but I was thinking low cost, simple, home solution.
I could use the same device to control my lights or other devices from a far.
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Controlling power outlets
Tue, October 9, 2007 - 7:33 AMThe X10 Firecracker does just what you're looking for, remote control of appliances/lights via RS232 serial port, and it's even wireless. Open source software is available to help you write your scripts. Full retail from x10.com is $40 (including extra light controller and hand-held remote control), but they can be had much cheaper if you want to look around. -
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Re: Controlling power outlets
Tue, October 9, 2007 - 2:09 PMExcellent - perfect (even if $14 per outlet controlled).
I can do my own programming to control this too, since the specifications/protocol of what to send down the RS232 line is available: software.x10.com/pub/manua...otocol.txt which simply involves raising/lowering RTS and DTR (not using TX), which I guess avoids the issues of setting a baudrate, etc (and allows other devices to still use TX/RX through it.
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Re: Controlling power outlets
Wed, October 24, 2007 - 5:29 PMExcellent...
I got an X10 firecracker and associated devices, and it works well.
There was some code online that controlled it (from Linux) although not quite how I wanted to, so I wrote my own from the specs.
One unexpected side effect/feature of the X10 "lamp module" is the ability to fade lights, ie my bedside lamp (which is nice).
Anyway to cycle my network devices I need to switch the power supplies off... then on.
EXCEPT they are powered by my UPS (uninterruptible power supply), but due to how a UPS works, the X10 110v signals are filtered out.
So now I'm about to make a box (or three) which has a 110v AC relay controlled by the X10 "lamp module" (on the house 110v side) to switch the 110v UPS power on/off (keeping UPS power isolated from the house power).
A very simple thing to build. So can I assume nobody makes one of those? -
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Re: Controlling power outlets
Thu, October 25, 2007 - 10:04 AMI don't think you should control a relay via lamp module intended only for incandescent lighting loads; you should ideally use an "appliance module". however, I'm not exactly sure it would be a problem, either. never tried!
And yeah, you can get X10 controlled relays from various sources on the Internet, but your way would probably be cheaper. -
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Re: Controlling power outlets
Thu, October 25, 2007 - 3:25 PMI looked at the specifications (that I could find) of the lamp and appliance modules.
The standard appliance module (both 2 and 3 pin versions) is 500W (15A).
The lamp module is 300W, and can dim the lights.
There is a heavy duty appliance module for 220V high wattage (15A and 20A versions).
I assume the ability to dim would be a problem for appliances, but it's also probably that a resistive load (as in an incandescent bulb) is good for the lamp module, whereas a transformer load (eg motors or lamps with dimmer switches already) would not be good for it - I'm guessing due to "back EMF" on a disconnect.
Thank you for pointing that out.
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Re: Controlling power outlets
Tue, December 18, 2007 - 11:34 AMAnother option someone told me about is called the web power switch made by Digital Loggers. See: www.webpowerswitch.com for a few different devices or www.digital-loggers.com/lpc.html for one specifically for the home (currently $90), which connects to an ethernet network, and switches 8 normal 110v outlets by you (or your application) using a web connection.
