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Electronics Forum / Electronics / July 2008Controlling a relay via cellular phone.....
Hello, Since a few weeks I am running a webcamserver . It is stationed 40 Kilometers away. I control it via an UltraVNC connection. However, about 2 times a week I need to hard-reset the computer manually. I am looking for some kind of construction to reset the computer via a GSM cellular phone. The only thing I need is a relay that I can switch by making a call to the GSM phone. So, I need only 1 channel. This relay could switch the reset-button. Can anyone help me out? Thanks in advance. Marcel > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Marcel Why not use the printer port and just issue the right command to pull the reset line low with a DIP or reed relay?  SignatureService to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida > > Hello, > > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Why not use the printer port and just issue the right command to pull > the reset line low with a DIP or reed relay? Instructions for using parallel port for controlling different things can be found on the article I have published here http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/parallel_output.html SignatureTomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/) Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at http://www.epanorama.net/ >Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Marcel Think you may have missed a few groups! <paranoia> ****BANG**** FBI/CIA... what account was this? Geneva, OK no probs </paranoia> or just do a nice stir fry, lots of veg, hot oil and Wok. Beats McDonalds anyday. And you dont fart as much martin >Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Can anyone help me out? System admins use the below x10 telephone gizmo to remotely cycle the power to hung servers to reboot them. http://www.x10.com/products/x10_tr16a.htm I think al Qaida has details on how to do this posted on their website. SignaturePaul Hovnanian mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ Optimist: "The glass is half-full." Pessimist: "The glass is half-empty." Engineer: "The glass is twice as big as it needs to be." >I think al Qaida has details on how to do this posted on their website. This one ? http://www.alquaida.org/ Sorry, no circuit found. > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > The only thing I need is a relay that I can switch by making a call to the > GSM phone. So, I need only 1 channel. Ask yourself how many wrong numbers you get per week. Ask yourself whether you really want your computer reset everytime someone misdials the number of the pizza-parlor. Ask yourself whether you really want everybody on the planet to be able to reset your computer at will. Including everybody on usenet, once someone finds out the number you assigned to this and posts it here. I'm sorry, but no functional computer needs to be reset twice a week. Hitting reset everytime your computer hangs is like buying a new car everytime the old one runs out of gas. It is the desperate attempt to avoid solving a problem. If your computer hangs that often, then your setup is broken -- either in hardware or in software. Fixing it will not only save you money in the long run (no need to keep a GSM) but will probably teach you a bunch of things. Some of which might even come in handy in the future. cordially Y.T. SignatureRemove YourClothes before you email me. > Ask yourself how many wrong numbers you get per week. Ask yourself > whether you really want your computer reset everytime someone misdials > the number of the pizza-parlor. Ask yourself whether you really want [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Y.T. I do agree with what YT says - even a windows box shouldnt need rebooting that often, and often resorting to a hard reboot too often can cause more problems in the long run, such as data corruption or nackered hard disks. However, I accept that it is sometimes necessary to hard reboot a machine far far away, and the peace of mind and sense of power simply being able to do it brings. However as others have stated, using a phone is open to abuse - I for one would get a sick satisfaction from phoning your computer to reboot it every 5 minutes. Also bear in mind that whatever phone you are using, you can GUARANTEE that some chap will phone your computers mobile several times a day to sell you cheap double glazing or save you money on your energy bills. do you really want that? However, if you do decide to go ahead with it, and you may be thinking what im thinking here, I suggest that you connect the relay to the reset switch and NOT the power line, reason being that the second option can cause far more data loss and even trash your hard disk beyond useability (ive had it happen to me during repeated brownouts - I have a ups now) another method that springs to mind however, is to have a fully automated "watchdog device" a watchdog card will normally set you back a few hundred bucks/lira/quid (delete as appropriate) and works by monitoring your computer for lockups, and rebooting if one occurs. A cheaper alternative is to build a circuit with a monostable timer, which can be reset if it recieves a periodic signal. IE, get some software which sends one of the pins on the parallel port high for a second or so every 4 minutes, and if the circuit doesnt recieve this signal to reset itself every 5 minutes, it triggers the relay and resets the computer (does that make sense?) hope you find the solution that works best for you anyway. > However, I accept that it is sometimes necessary to hard reboot a > machine far far away, and the peace of mind and sense of power simply [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > phone your computers mobile several times a day to sell you cheap double > glazing or save you money on your energy bills. do you really want that? many phones can be programmed to only ring for a select few callers. > However, if you do decide to go ahead with it, and you may be thinking > what im thinking here, I suggest that you connect the relay to the reset > switch and NOT the power line, reason being that the second option can > cause far more data loss and even trash your hard disk beyond useability > (ive had it happen to me during repeated brownouts - I have a ups now) I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not shake them out of it and they needed to be power cycled. also there may be other appliances (ADSL router?) that need to be power cycled to reset them. > another method that springs to mind however, is to have a fully > automated "watchdog device" a watchdog card will normally set you back a [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > itself every 5 minutes, it triggers the relay and resets the computer > (does that make sense?) the calls to the watchdog resetting routine need to come from the software that's being monitored, if it's not done this way and the payload software crashes ties the network in a knot but the watchdog pinger keeps pinging you're no better off. Bye. Jasen > I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not shake > them out of it and they needed to be power cycled. What the hell is "The red button"? SignatureService to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida >>I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not shake >>them out of it and they needed to be power cycled. > > What the hell is "The red button"? You have never heard of "the big red button" the one with "panic" etched into it? > >>I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not shake > >>them out of it and they needed to be power cycled. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > You have never heard of "the big red button" the one with "panic" etched > into it? Not on a computer. On the other hand, I work with well designed equipment that doesn't need a panic button. SignatureService to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida >>>>I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not shake >>>>them out of it and they needed to be power cycled. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Not on a computer. On the other hand, I work with well designed > equipment that doesn't need a panic button. I only ever needed it when I was using windows - now I only ever use it when I try to run a bodged kernel >> >>I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not shake >> >>them out of it and they needed to be power cycled. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Not on a computer. On the other hand, I work with well designed > equipment that doesn't need a panic button. No, but PCs did have the "ANY" key for awhile - a big rectangular red button on the front panel that gave the box a hard reset. >:-> Thanks, Rich >>I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not shake >>them out of it and they needed to be power cycled. > > What the hell is "The red button"? It has a big sign on it, saying "DO NOT PRESS" It takes a little force to press it, and then a sign lights up - RELEASE TO DETONATE 8-) Charlie >>> I've had machines lock up in such a way that the red button could not >>> shake [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Charlie Sounds like a job for gaffer tape > It has a big sign on it, saying "DO NOT PRESS" > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Charlie And the question was, "What do you find in an Iranian voting booth?" SignatureService to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida >> It has a big sign on it, saying "DO NOT PRESS" >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > And the question was, "What do you find in an Iranian voting booth?" here http://www.nogw.com/electionfraud.html martin >the calls to the watchdog resetting routine need to come from the software >that's being monitored, if it's not done this way and the payload software >crashes ties the network in a knot but the watchdog pinger keeps pinging >you're no better off. I got in late on this thread. Basically, it'd be pretty easy to rig a relay device to the reset pin from the phone ringer. But.. you'll need a dedicated phone for that. (As I understand it, this is basically how the terrorists do their business, 'cept it's a bomb instead of a bombed computer..) Not really advisable though, unless you want any phone call to reboot the computer. A watchdog timer is the best approach, the idea is to wire it like a dead man switch, (gee, morbid today) so that failing to send it a signal will cause a reboot. If it's a specific piece of network software being monitored, a software solution would be far easier, the "watchdog" could do double duty, for example, attempting to load a page from a web server, if it fails, reboot the web server and set a flag so the next iteration checks to see it restarted proper if THAT fails, then stop sending signals to the watchdog timer and await a reboot. That way, you won't need to reboot the comptuter when a specific application dies and if you (the watchdog process) fail to send a signal to the watchdog timer, it still does a reboot. UNIX'ish operating systems, this would be easy to do. Not sure about windows. If you insist on going the phone route, I'd probably look for an old answering machine, the kind with a tape that allow you to fetch your messages via remote via a code. Then, rig into THAT machine (playback motor or something, look for a led or other signal that is only active when fetching messages) At least you'd have a minimal password protection scheme. Jamie Signaturehttp://www.geniegate.com Custom web programming guhzo_42@lnubb.pbz (rot13) User Management Solutions >>the calls to the watchdog resetting routine need to come from the software >>that's being monitored, if it's not done this way and the payload software [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Not really advisable though, unless you want any phone call to reboot the computer. if you've got free caller-id (it';s free on mobiles here) you can easily set it so that only calls from trusted parties reboot it. > A watchdog timer is the best approach, the idea is to wire it like a dead man switch, > (gee, morbid today) so that failing to send it a signal will cause a reboot. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > if you (the watchdog process) fail to send a signal to the watchdog timer, it still does > a reboot. > UNIX'ish operating systems, this would be easy to do. Not sure about windows. should be do-able on windows. > If you insist on going the phone route, I'd probably look for an old >answering machine, yeah, that'd work well on a fixed line. > Jamie SignatureBye. Jasen I got the Velleman kit MK160. It's in a plastic box together with an old mobile phone. When the phone's display lits up, it triggers the MK160. On this device I can select the switching time from 0.5 seconds to 1 hour. I set it to 2 seconds, connected it to the reset button, and configured the phone to only accept my number as allowed caller. All other numbers are blocked. Works great! Thanks for the input. Marcel >>>the calls to the watchdog resetting routine need to come from the >>>software [quoted text clipped - 52 lines] > >> Jamie >I got the Velleman kit MK160. >It's in a plastic box together with an old mobile phone. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >Thanks for the input. >Marcel Like this? http://tinyurl.com/zl5tc martin Yep, like that :-) The MK160 kit costs about $ 15 >>I got the Velleman kit MK160. >>It's in a plastic box together with an old mobile phone. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > martin Another solution might be to just set up a windows timed event to reboot your remote machine on a daily basis at some obscure time of day or in the very early morning. If it is restarting ever day and you are getting by with only having to reset every 3 or 4 days, then the software solution would circumvent any need for a hardware fix. > > Ask yourself how many wrong numbers you get per week. Ask yourself >> whether you really want your computer reset everytime someone misdials [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] > >hope you find the solution that works best for you anyway. > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > GSM phone. So, I need only 1 channel. > This relay could switch the reset-button. set the phone to vibrate when it gets a call from you (if you set it to only do it on calls from you and to refusa other calls that's probably best) and then use a vibration detector to reboot the computer, (or wire a small relay in place of the vibration motor) the best part of this plan is that in many places unanswered calls are free! vibration switch: ------+-------------------+----+--- +v. | | | / relay |~/ | 1K \ coil |/| | / /_| | \ | | | +->|-' +--->|-. 4K7 / | | |/ vibration | +--/\/\/--| contacts | | |\| #|><| | ~\ | ===== | | | 10uF | | | | --------+---+------------+- the vibration sensor use two contacts one one fixed to the back of the phone the other lightly touching and weighted (with a small weight (small coin etc)) I've seen similar contacts used in pinball machines. Bye. Jasen > The only thing I need is a relay that I can switch by making a call to the > GSM phone. So, I need only 1 channel. > This relay could switch the reset-button. http://www.jaycarelectronics.com/ and search for 'SMS'. four inputs and eight outputs so a shade overkill but at only £15 not a problem. > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Can anyone help me out? Check out this: REMOTE CONTROL VIA GSM MOBILE PHONE http://www.velleman.be/be/en/product/view/?id=350454 turn equipment ON and OFF from a random place via your cellular phone ring detection circuit avoids phone charges no need to open or modify your cellular or connect it with other devices compatible with most cellular phones Looks promising... I have non tested this articular product, but Velleman kits have generally been quite good quality products. SignatureTomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/) Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at http://www.epanorama.net/ Hi all, Thanks for your reactions. The Velleman kit is what I bought and it works perfectly! regards, Marcel >> Hello, >> [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > I have non tested this articular product, but > Velleman kits have generally been quite good quality products. |
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