4 ms·

Ubiquiti sells a nice piece of hardware that is a WAN reboot plug. Unfortunately there is zero configurability in terms of how it determines if WAN is working o

by jmacd 4y ago

Ubiquiti sells a nice piece of hardware that is a WAN reboot plug. Unfortunately there is zero configurability in terms of how it determines if WAN is working or not. I haven't been able to find another purpose made piece of kit.

timonoko 4y ago
My server is so old (2012) it has parallel port. If you connect all pins together it has enough power to operate 220V relay and thus modem and router can be turned on and off without any fancy hardware.
- spicybright 4y ago
  That's scary but amazing. Did you do this and have any write ups about it? Sounds interesting!
  - timonoko 4y ago
    This is all you need to know. Connect all parport data pins together and connect it to suitable relay. Preferably 3-pin relay, so the Wifi-power-on is the default state. $ cat wifi-off #! /usr/bin/python2 import parallel,time p = parallel.Parallel() # open LPT1 or /dev/parport0 p.setData(0xFF) $ cat wifi-on #! /usr/bin/python2 import parallel,time p = parallel.Parallel() # open LPT1 or /dev/parport0 p.setData(0x0)
    - spicybright 4y ago
      Wow, that makes complete sense. What an elegant hack!
      - BugWatch 4y ago
        If you are ever to pursue such a project, please pay close attention to proper electronic circuit design and safeguards when it comes to relays. Otherwise, you risk burning out the controlling pins or the whole system, due to reverse voltage (measured in hundreds) that is generated by the relay's coil when the relay is turned off. The easiest approach is to just use a commonly available relay modules used with Arduino or similar platforms/microcontrollers, as they already contain minimum or all protection mechanisms. So, the module will contain the reversed diode in parallel with the relay, while additional transistor and optocoupler will allow you a complete galvanic isolation of the controlling- from the and relay circuit. YouTube has plenty of user-friendly resources with schematics and functional overviews, just search for "relay module" or "relay arduino".
        spicybright 4y ago
        Oh, absolutely. Even though it's just a simple (mostly) isolated relay, driving outlet power through anything but a PSU sketches me out. Great overview though, thank you for posting that.

by jmacd 4y ago

timonoko 4y ago

My server is so old (2012) it has parallel port. If you connect all pins together it has enough power to operate 220V relay and thus modem and router can be turned on and off without any fancy hardware.

spicybright 4y ago
That's scary but amazing. Did you do this and have any write ups about it? Sounds interesting!
- timonoko 4y ago
  This is all you need to know. Connect all parport data pins together and connect it to suitable relay. Preferably 3-pin relay, so the Wifi-power-on is the default state. $ cat wifi-off #! /usr/bin/python2 import parallel,time p = parallel.Parallel() # open LPT1 or /dev/parport0 p.setData(0xFF) $ cat wifi-on #! /usr/bin/python2 import parallel,time p = parallel.Parallel() # open LPT1 or /dev/parport0 p.setData(0x0)
  - spicybright 4y ago
    Wow, that makes complete sense. What an elegant hack!
    - BugWatch 4y ago
      If you are ever to pursue such a project, please pay close attention to proper electronic circuit design and safeguards when it comes to relays. Otherwise, you risk burning out the controlling pins or the whole system, due to reverse voltage (measured in hundreds) that is generated by the relay's coil when the relay is turned off. The easiest approach is to just use a commonly available relay modules used with Arduino or similar platforms/microcontrollers, as they already contain minimum or all protection mechanisms. So, the module will contain the reversed diode in parallel with the relay, while additional transistor and optocoupler will allow you a complete galvanic isolation of the controlling- from the and relay circuit. YouTube has plenty of user-friendly resources with schematics and functional overviews, just search for "relay module" or "relay arduino".
      - spicybright 4y ago
        Oh, absolutely. Even though it's just a simple (mostly) isolated relay, driving outlet power through anything but a PSU sketches me out. Great overview though, thank you for posting that.