There no doubt that houses are getting "smarter" all the time. More and
more new homes are coming with goodies like alarm systems, intelligent
controls for HVAC, pools and sprinklers and even devices to monitor power
consumption in real time.

I've seen a lot of very expensive and complex systems to manage the
functions of "smart homes" but I've never come across something as small,
powerful and inexpensive as this unit:

http://www.cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/

I've cross-posted this in comp.home.automation and alt.home.repair because
I've seen a lot of posts about monitoring house conditions like temperature
remotely in both groups. I was first alerted to the product in a thread
about USB home control in CHA. In that thread:

_USB module for monitoring multiple on/off switches_

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....n/off+switches

Marc Hult recommended this device instead as a much more practical way to
"communicate" with your house remotely than USB devices connected to a PC.

It took me a while to find the secret URL and I don't give cainetworks an A+
for website design - this product doesn't even show up on their "Product
List." They seem to be a server load balancing company and I would guess
they built this thing for themselves as a service tool and then began to
realize it had other applications.

I have no interest in the company, other than as a customer and it's too
early to tell whether I am a happy customer or not!

WebControl interests me for a number of reasons: it can automagically send
emails to a PC or a cell phone when a looked-for condition occurs, assuming
you've got a constant internet connection. This condition could be a
furnace failure, an out-of-bounds temperature, water on the floor or any
number of other events that can sensed electronically.

It's got plenty of inputs - it can accommodate a Honeywell humidity sensor,
up to eight Maxim DS1822 /DS18B20 12bit 1 wire temperature sensors, eight
digital inputs, three analog inputs and 20 different timers. It seems from
my Google searches that these are popular with cigar lovers (to keep their
treasures at constant temps and humidity) and in-home horticulturists
growing various "herbs."

My first project will be a sensing project, too: I'm hoping to use it to
continually monitor how much power the whole house uses in real-time. I've
read about a number of test projects using "smart meters" and they all
pretty much say the same thing: People who know how much power they are
using at any one moment will end up reducing their average monthly
consumption.

I've got some tiny current sensors that I will attach to the main power
feeds to the circuit panel, hopefully so artfully that an inspector might
never notice they're there. (Yes, I know the evils of mixing high and low
voltage gear and I don't recommend anyone but an insane person with total
contempt for life and the law even contemplate copying my actions!)

These tiny (1/4" sq.) Hall-Effect (HE) sensors generate a small electric
current proportional (well, proportional enough for me) to the current
flowing into the house from the main feeders. This unit should enable me to
see the current current use from any PC on the home network. I should even
be able to rig up an LED bargraph display that shows the real-time power
consumption of the house with another $2 worth of parts.

The unit has three 3 1023 bit analog inputs (0-10v) that should be able to
accurately measure the HE sensor voltage level and take an action (light a
bargraph LED, ring a chime, etc) when the voltage becomes greater than a
pre-determined level. Perhaps the hardest part is going to be accurately
matching the output level of the sensor to the actual home electrical power
consumed. If I can't get a helper with a walkie talkie, I can temporarily
mount a wireless CCTV cam outside pointing at the electric meter so I can
tabulate meter readings and how they correspond to the sensor output as I
add more and more loads. I will start with all the breakers off, but with
lights, etc. left on so that as I flip each breaker on, the load increases.
That way I should have a scale that gives me a pretty good idea of the juice
flowing through the circuit panel.

I'm going to make notes as I go along, paying particular attention to the
level of technical skill required to implement it. I'm afraid it's going to
be high enough to make it a techie-only solution. But looking through the
manual

http://www.cainetworks.com/manuals/w...ide2-03-00.pdf

gives me at least a little hope that this unit may be simple enough that
with a little advice, a fairly low-tech user could implement a simple system
that could, for example, send them an email if their freezer or refrigerator
temperature rises out of the food safety zone. Ironically, that's why I
ordered the board (my fridge tripped the GFCI) but once I read the manual
and the specs, I realized it would probably make a good and cheap whole
house power monitor.

Previously, devices like this cost close to $200, so to my mind it's a great
bargain.

The part that I haven't quite figured out about whole house power monitoring
is this: What's the best way to notify residents that the house is burning
kilowatts without being so intrusive that they'll just shut it off? There
has to be some sort of override, too, because there will be some days in the
dead of a very cold winter that the consumption will peak.

--
Bobby G.

"Robert Green" wrote in message
...
There no doubt that houses are getting "smarter" all the time. More and
more new homes are coming with goodies like alarm systems, intelligent
controls for HVAC, pools and sprinklers and even devices to monitor power
consumption in real time.

I've seen a lot of very expensive and complex systems to manage the
functions of "smart homes" but I've never come across something as small,
powerful and inexpensive as this unit:

http://www.cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/

I've cross-posted this in comp.home.automation and alt.home.repair because
I've seen a lot of posts about monitoring house conditions like
temperature
remotely in both groups. I was first alerted to the product in a thread
about USB home control in CHA. In that thread:

_USB module for monitoring multiple on/off switches_

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....n/off+switches

Marc Hult recommended this device instead as a much more practical way to
"communicate" with your house remotely than USB devices connected to a PC.

It took me a while to find the secret URL and I don't give cainetworks an
A+
for website design - this product doesn't even show up on their "Product
List." They seem to be a server load balancing company and I would guess
they built this thing for themselves as a service tool and then began to
realize it had other applications.

I have no interest in the company, other than as a customer and it's too
early to tell whether I am a happy customer or not!

WebControl interests me for a number of reasons: it can automagically
send
emails to a PC or a cell phone when a looked-for condition occurs,
assuming
you've got a constant internet connection. This condition could be a
furnace failure, an out-of-bounds temperature, water on the floor or any
number of other events that can sensed electronically.

It's got plenty of inputs - it can accommodate a Honeywell humidity
sensor,
up to eight Maxim DS1822 /DS18B20 12bit 1 wire temperature sensors, eight
digital inputs, three analog inputs and 20 different timers. It seems
from
my Google searches that these are popular with cigar lovers (to keep their
treasures at constant temps and humidity) and in-home horticulturists
growing various "herbs."

My first project will be a sensing project, too: I'm hoping to use it to
continually monitor how much power the whole house uses in real-time.
I've
read about a number of test projects using "smart meters" and they all
pretty much say the same thing: People who know how much power they are
using at any one moment will end up reducing their average monthly
consumption.

I've got some tiny current sensors that I will attach to the main power
feeds to the circuit panel, hopefully so artfully that an inspector might
never notice they're there. (Yes, I know the evils of mixing high and low
voltage gear and I don't recommend anyone but an insane person with total
contempt for life and the law even contemplate copying my actions!)

These tiny (1/4" sq.) Hall-Effect (HE) sensors generate a small electric
current proportional (well, proportional enough for me) to the current
flowing into the house from the main feeders. This unit should enable me
to
see the current current use from any PC on the home network. I should
even
be able to rig up an LED bargraph display that shows the real-time power
consumption of the house with another $2 worth of parts.

The unit has three 3 1023 bit analog inputs (0-10v) that should be able to
accurately measure the HE sensor voltage level and take an action (light a
bargraph LED, ring a chime, etc) when the voltage becomes greater than a
pre-determined level. Perhaps the hardest part is going to be accurately
matching the output level of the sensor to the actual home electrical
power
consumed. If I can't get a helper with a walkie talkie, I can
temporarily
mount a wireless CCTV cam outside pointing at the electric meter so I can
tabulate meter readings and how they correspond to the sensor output as I
add more and more loads. I will start with all the breakers off, but with
lights, etc. left on so that as I flip each breaker on, the load
increases.
That way I should have a scale that gives me a pretty good idea of the
juice
flowing through the circuit panel.

I'm going to make notes as I go along, paying particular attention to the
level of technical skill required to implement it. I'm afraid it's going
to
be high enough to make it a techie-only solution. But looking through the
manual

http://www.cainetworks.com/manuals/w...ide2-03-00.pdf

gives me at least a little hope that this unit may be simple enough that
with a little advice, a fairly low-tech user could implement a simple
system
that could, for example, send them an email if their freezer or
refrigerator
temperature rises out of the food safety zone. Ironically, that's why I
ordered the board (my fridge tripped the GFCI) but once I read the manual
and the specs, I realized it would probably make a good and cheap whole
house power monitor.

Previously, devices like this cost close to $200, so to my mind it's a
great
bargain.

The part that I haven't quite figured out about whole house power
monitoring
is this: What's the best way to notify residents that the house is
burning
kilowatts without being so intrusive that they'll just shut it off?
There
has to be some sort of override, too, because there will be some days in
the
dead of a very cold winter that the consumption will peak.


Wow, it does look really good - for lots of things. You never did say the
price nor does their web siet. What is the single unit price?

Jim

On Oct 30, 5:34*am, "Robert Green" wrote:
There no doubt that houses are getting "smarter" all the time. *More and
more new homes are coming with goodies like alarm systems, intelligent
controls for HVAC, pools and sprinklers and even devices to monitor power
consumption in real time.

I've seen a lot of very expensive and complex systems to manage the
functions of "smart homes" but I've never come across something as small,
powerful and inexpensive as this unit:

http://www.cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/

I've cross-posted this in comp.home.automation and alt.home.repair because
I've seen a lot of posts about monitoring house conditions like temperature
remotely in both groups. *I was first alerted to the product in a *thread
about USB home control in CHA. *In that thread:

_USB module for monitoring multiple on/off switches_

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....wse_thread/thr...

Marc Hult recommended this device instead as a much more practical way to
"communicate" with your house remotely than USB devices connected to a PC..

It took me a while to find the secret URL and I don't give cainetworks an A+
for website design - this product doesn't even show up on their "Product
List." *They seem to be a server load balancing company and I would guess
they built this thing for themselves as a service tool and then began to
realize it had other applications.

I have no interest in the company, other than as a customer and it's too
early to tell whether I am a happy customer or not!

WebControl interests me for a number of reasons: *it can automagically send
emails to a PC or a cell phone when a looked-for condition occurs, assuming
you've got a constant internet connection. *This condition could be a
furnace failure, an out-of-bounds temperature, water on the floor or any
number of other events that can sensed electronically.

It's got plenty of inputs - it can accommodate a Honeywell humidity sensor,
up to eight Maxim DS1822 /DS18B20 12bit 1 wire temperature sensors, eight
digital inputs, three analog inputs and 20 different timers. *It seems from
my Google searches that these are popular with cigar lovers (to keep their
treasures at constant temps and humidity) and in-home horticulturists
growing various "herbs."

My first project will be a sensing project, too: *I'm hoping to use it to
continually monitor how much power the whole house uses in real-time. *I've
read about a number of test projects using "smart meters" and they all
pretty much say the same thing: *People who know how much power they are
using at any one moment will end up reducing their average monthly
consumption.

I've got some tiny current sensors that I will attach to the main power
feeds to the circuit panel, hopefully so artfully that an inspector might
never notice they're there. *(Yes, I know the evils of mixing high and low
voltage gear and I don't recommend anyone but an insane person with total
contempt for life and the law even contemplate copying my actions!)

These tiny (1/4" sq.) Hall-Effect (HE) sensors generate a small electric
current proportional (well, proportional enough for me) to the current
flowing into the house from the main feeders. *This unit should enable me to
see the current current use from any PC on the home network. *I should even
be able to rig up an LED bargraph display that shows the real-time power
consumption of the house with another $2 worth of parts.

The unit has three 3 1023 bit analog inputs (0-10v) that should be able to
accurately measure the HE sensor voltage level and take an action (light a
bargraph LED, ring a chime, etc) when the voltage becomes greater than a
pre-determined level. *Perhaps the hardest part is going to be accurately
matching the output level of the sensor to the actual home electrical power
consumed. *If I can't get a helper with a walkie talkie, *I can temporarily
mount a wireless CCTV cam outside pointing at the electric meter so I can
tabulate meter readings and how they correspond to the sensor output as I
add more and more loads. *I will start with all the breakers off, but with
lights, etc. left on so that as I flip each breaker on, the load increases.
That way I should have a scale that gives me a pretty good idea of the juice
flowing through the circuit panel.

I'm going to make notes as I go along, paying particular attention to the
level of technical skill required to implement it. *I'm afraid it's going to
be high enough to make it a techie-only solution. *But looking through the
manual

http://www.cainetworks.com/manuals/w...lUserGuide2-03...

gives me at least a little hope that this unit may be simple enough that
with a little advice, a fairly low-tech user could implement a simple system
that could, for example, send them an email if their freezer or refrigerator
temperature rises out of the food safety zone. *Ironically, that's why I
ordered the board (my fridge tripped the GFCI) but once I read the manual
and the specs, I realized it would probably make a good and cheap whole
house power monitor.

Previously, devices like this cost close to $200, so to my mind it's a great
bargain.

The part that I haven't quite figured out about whole house power monitoring
is this: *What's the best way to notify residents that the house is burning
kilowatts without being so *intrusive that they'll just shut it off? *There
has to be some sort of override, too, because there will be some days in the
dead of a very cold winter that the consumption will peak.

--
Bobby G.

Anyway I can use it to monitor a vacation home 1200 miles away? I'm
not sure what this unit does.

Anyway I can use it to monitor a vacation home 1200 miles away? I'm
not sure what this unit does.

Yes, if the home is connected to the internet you could monitor it from a
browser virtually anywhere. However, you will need some hardware and
software experience. If you are not quite sure what this unit does based on
the posted description, then this may not be a good project for you.

Best,
Christopher

"Christopher Glaeser" wrote in message
...
Anyway I can use it to monitor a vacation home 1200 miles away? I'm
not sure what this unit does.

Yes, if the home is connected to the internet you could monitor it from a
browser virtually anywhere. However, you will need some hardware and
software experience. If you are not quite sure what this unit does based
on
the posted description, then this may not be a good project for you.

Best,
Christopher

Agreed. Thanks for fielding that question for me, Christopher. It's not
for someone who's not comfortable with soldering or circuit diagrams. As
you point out, you'd need some way to get to the internet to use it to
monitor your house remotely. An alternative I'm exploring is using an old
laptop PC and a modem or a electronic phone dialer to have the machine
dial-out using a plain old telephone line, which many second or vacation
homes have. Probably more of those kinds of homes have "always on"
telephone lines than "always" on internet connections.

But I'm not keen on a monitoring system that's got to establish a link v.
one that's got an internet link always available. I think reliability would
be too low. Another consideration is backup power. The device draws very
little standby current, and could easily be solar powered, but to be
effective, all other devices in the access chain have to be battery-backed.

The unit is best-suited for a tinkerer with some internet smarts, some
electronic smarts and a monitoring need. If you're not that kind of person,
I believe devices like the Sensaphone are a better fit:

http://www.sensaphone.com/sensaphone_400.php

Of course, when you find out what they sell for (or similar systems) you'll
realize why at least some of the gadgeteers among us are so thrilled to find
the "platform" for building your own version of the Sensaphone for $34.95.
Well, at least this gadgethead is.

The best way to think about the unit is as a tiny webserver that keeps track
of different conditions in the house and can take actions when those
conditions change or when a certain time has been reached or when a set
period of time has expired. The fact that it's network-enabled means that
you can buy incredibly cheap network hubs and connect the units to the
outside world or your home PCs without have to run busloads of sensor cables
all over the place.

I believe with the right (fairly cheap) gear, it will even run on a wireless
network and could be used to monitor an outbuilding's vitals without running
cable. One simple PC, netbook or smartphone could then use a browser and a
set of bookmarks to monitor each device on the net.

If my plans work out, I'll be able to access my network remotely and see the
current temps, humidity, alarm status, current power readings for the whole
house whenever I chose and have the unit send my phone an email when some
critical condition goes out of bounds.

For example, in the laundry room I want to monitor whether something's
fallen in the sink and had blocked the drain which would cause it to
overflow from running the clothes washer. I'd also want to measure the air
temperature in the dryer vent duct to make sure it wasn't too hot - an
indication of a blocked vent (we've got birds that are *determined* to nest
in there every spring. They've even pecked away wire screening to get in.

I'm even thinking of monitoring the washer so that clothes can presoak in
warm water for as long as the water is hotter than the ambient air. That
way, I wouldn't be tossing hot water down the drain until I'd squeezed some
of the BTUs it took to heat it back into the laundry room. I can also
monitor the floor drain to make sure it's not backing up, keep track of the
level in the sump pump and maybe even monitor the furnace and water heater
temperatures, too, to make sure they stay within bounds.

I think there's potential if a broad enough user community develops to reach
a broader audience as "pioneers" develop applications they are willing to
document well enough for less-capable readers to follow. As it stands,
there aren't many examples (one, I think) on their site to make it anything
but geek accessible. There's also the possibility of solderheads using this
board as the basis for project they could "kit out" and sell with all the
components pre-assembled and the steps carefully documented.

With that in mind, I am going to proceed slowly and write up and photograph
my projects as I create them since it's bound to make it easier for the next
person attempting to do something similar.

--
Bobby G.

On Oct 30, 4:34*am, "Robert Green" wrote:
There no doubt that houses are getting "smarter" all the time. *More and
more new homes are coming with goodies like alarm systems, intelligent
controls for HVAC, pools and sprinklers and even devices to monitor power
consumption in real time.

I've seen a lot of very expensive and complex systems to manage the
functions of "smart homes" but I've never come across something as small,
powerful and inexpensive as this unit:

http://www.cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/

I've cross-posted this in comp.home.automation and alt.home.repair because
I've seen a lot of posts about monitoring house conditions like temperature
remotely in both groups. *I was first alerted to the product in a *thread
about USB home control in CHA. *In that thread:

_USB module for monitoring multiple on/off switches_

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....wse_thread/thr...

Marc Hult recommended this device instead as a much more practical way to
"communicate" with your house remotely than USB devices connected to a PC..

It took me a while to find the secret URL and I don't give cainetworks an A+
for website design - this product doesn't even show up on their "Product
List." *They seem to be a server load balancing company and I would guess
they built this thing for themselves as a service tool and then began to
realize it had other applications.

I have no interest in the company, other than as a customer and it's too
early to tell whether I am a happy customer or not!

WebControl interests me for a number of reasons: *it can automagically send
emails to a PC or a cell phone when a looked-for condition occurs, assuming
you've got a constant internet connection. *This condition could be a
furnace failure, an out-of-bounds temperature, water on the floor or any
number of other events that can sensed electronically.

It's got plenty of inputs - it can accommodate a Honeywell humidity sensor,
up to eight Maxim DS1822 /DS18B20 12bit 1 wire temperature sensors, eight
digital inputs, three analog inputs and 20 different timers. *It seems from
my Google searches that these are popular with cigar lovers (to keep their
treasures at constant temps and humidity) and in-home horticulturists
growing various "herbs."

My first project will be a sensing project, too: *I'm hoping to use it to
continually monitor how much power the whole house uses in real-time. *I've
read about a number of test projects using "smart meters" and they all
pretty much say the same thing: *People who know how much power they are
using at any one moment will end up reducing their average monthly
consumption.

I've got some tiny current sensors that I will attach to the main power
feeds to the circuit panel, hopefully so artfully that an inspector might
never notice they're there. *(Yes, I know the evils of mixing high and low
voltage gear and I don't recommend anyone but an insane person with total
contempt for life and the law even contemplate copying my actions!)

These tiny (1/4" sq.) Hall-Effect (HE) sensors generate a small electric
current proportional (well, proportional enough for me) to the current
flowing into the house from the main feeders. *This unit should enable me to
see the current current use from any PC on the home network. *I should even
be able to rig up an LED bargraph display that shows the real-time power
consumption of the house with another $2 worth of parts.

The unit has three 3 1023 bit analog inputs (0-10v) that should be able to
accurately measure the HE sensor voltage level and take an action (light a
bargraph LED, ring a chime, etc) when the voltage becomes greater than a
pre-determined level. *Perhaps the hardest part is going to be accurately
matching the output level of the sensor to the actual home electrical power
consumed. *If I can't get a helper with a walkie talkie, *I can temporarily
mount a wireless CCTV cam outside pointing at the electric meter so I can
tabulate meter readings and how they correspond to the sensor output as I
add more and more loads. *I will start with all the breakers off, but with
lights, etc. left on so that as I flip each breaker on, the load increases.
That way I should have a scale that gives me a pretty good idea of the juice
flowing through the circuit panel.

I'm going to make notes as I go along, paying particular attention to the
level of technical skill required to implement it. *I'm afraid it's going to
be high enough to make it a techie-only solution. *But looking through the
manual

http://www.cainetworks.com/manuals/w...lUserGuide2-03...

gives me at least a little hope that this unit may be simple enough that
with a little advice, a fairly low-tech user could implement a simple system
that could, for example, send them an email if their freezer or refrigerator
temperature rises out of the food safety zone. *Ironically, that's why I
ordered the board (my fridge tripped the GFCI) but once I read the manual
and the specs, I realized it would probably make a good and cheap whole
house power monitor.

Previously, devices like this cost close to $200, so to my mind it's a great
bargain.

The part that I haven't quite figured out about whole house power monitoring
is this: *What's the best way to notify residents that the house is burning
kilowatts without being so *intrusive that they'll just shut it off? *There
has to be some sort of override, too, because there will be some days in the
dead of a very cold winter that the consumption will peak.

--
Bobby G.


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).

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 dont mind leaving this little guy "online" all the time but dont
want to leave my large home computers online all the time.

Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM) switches with built in remote IP boot
capabilities run about $2000, so this might be a great solution if it
works.

Might also use it to remotely power up/down a NAS hard drive array I
have plugged into my net switch at home.

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:32:17 -0800, RickH wrote:
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).

Hmm, I used to ssh to my router/firewall and from there send a
wake-on-LAN command to whatever it was I was powering up (I possibly could
have got the router/firewall to forward the necessary voodoo for me and
just issue the wake-up from whatever remote machine I was on, but I never
quite got around to seeing if that would work).

For shutdown I'd just ssh into whatever machine I had on and issue a
normal poweroff, same as normal (analogous to your mention of using
Windows' remote desktop to do this).

These days my main server's just left on all the time, so for other "home
monitoring" tasks I'm just looking for some form of digital I/O
board that I can hook sensors to...

cheers

Jules

"Jules" wrote in message
news
stuff snipped

These days my main server's just left on all the time, so for other "home
monitoring" tasks I'm just looking for some form of digital I/O
board that I can hook sensors to...

I've had a dual CPU, dual power supply RAID'ed server and decided it had to
go once I put a power meter on it and realized it was drawing nearly 200
watts. I found some used laptops on Ebay, some hi-capacity USB drives and
have dropped the overall consumption to less than 20 watts without
sacrificing too much performance. The laptops paid for themselves in short
order with the way electric rates have been climbing in the DC area.

It's no longer RAID'ed, although I could have gone that way, but that's not
too much of an issue with good backup procedures in place. It's not like
I'm supporting some huge SQL database that needs to serve hundreds of users.
As long as it can support full motion HD video, I'm a happy camper,
especially at one tenth the cost of the previous solution. Best part is
that I no longer need a UPS since the laptop will run for 2 hours on its own
battery if the power dies. The next jump in power savings will be switch to
a NAS device where I might be able to achieve a savings of the same
magnitude as switching from a tower PC to a laptop.

I've just ordered some Honeywell humidity sensors for the "WebCon" project.
The lowest price I found was a Canadian seller on Ebay for $14 each. Now I
am going to look for the One-wire temperature sensors, since that's one of
the unit's most appealing feature (to me, anyway): the support of eight temp
sensors. An Ebay vendor in Hong Kong has them for 10 for $20.59 with free
shipping. Also bought a packet of diodes and some 6 volt relays to
investigate the unit's ability to switch high-voltage devices. I may want
to opto-isolate those connections. I must admit, this feels like the
grown-up version of Tinkertoys! (-:

--
Bobby G.

"RickH" 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/Sensiti...ation_Facility

in the basement where I can build my own version of the this:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008...raeli-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.

--
Bobby G.

Robert Green wrote:
"RickH" 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 think that is the long way around the block.. WOL is perfect for this.


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/Sensiti...ation_Facility

in the basement where I can build my own version of the this:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008...raeli-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.

--
Bobby G.

On Nov 3, 8:30*am, George wrote:
Robert Green wrote:
"RickH" 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 think that is the long way around the block.. WOL is perfect for this.



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/Sensiti...formation_Faci...

in the basement where I can build my own version of the this:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008...raeli-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..

--
Bobby G.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


The problem is WOL still requires you to have at least one computer
already powered up, then that computer can receive the WOL command to
power up the other computer(s) provided the motherboards have WOL
jacks. I wanted a single computer dead until I power it up.

RickH wrote:
On Nov 3, 8:30 am, George wrote:
Robert Green wrote:
"RickH" 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 think that is the long way around the block.. WOL is perfect for this.



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/Sensiti...formation_Faci...
in the basement where I can build my own version of the this:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008...raeli-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.
--
Bobby G.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


The problem is WOL still requires you to have at least one computer
already powered up, then that computer can receive the WOL command to
power up the other computer(s) provided the motherboards have WOL
jacks. I wanted a single computer dead until I power it up.


But it doesn't have to be much of a computer (such as a router). I can
do it by remotely logging into my router and issuing WOL for any MAC on
the LAN from its web interface.

The problem is WOL still requires you to have at least one computer
already powered up, then that computer can receive the WOL

No, it doesn't. A router that can send the WOL packet can wake a PC
listening for it. No added PC necessary. Just that the PC you intend to
wake up needs to have WOL built into it.

Alternatively you could use a router that has a serial port and use that to
control a relay that will listen to RS232. Bit more of a jump-through-hoops
sort of solution though.

-Bill Kearney

Robert Green wrote:
"RickH" 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/Sensiti...ation_Facility

in the basement where I can build my own version of the this:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008...raeli-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.

--
Bobby G.



I always thought the US Government should recycle all the land mines
that are being dug up in the operational areas and put them on our
Southern border.

TDD

"The Daring Dufas" wrote:

I always thought the US Government should recycle all
the land mines that are being dug up in the operational
areas and put them on our Southern border.

You figure it's a good idea to murder women and children for the "crime" of
looking for work in the USA? I suppose your ancestors were not immigrants.
Perhaps you're actually the Daring Arapaho?

Robert

Robert L Bass wrote:
"The Daring Dufas" wrote:

I always thought the US Government should recycle all
the land mines that are being dug up in the operational
areas and put them on our Southern border.

You figure it's a good idea to murder women and children for the "crime"
of looking for work in the USA? I suppose your ancestors were not
immigrants. Perhaps you're actually the Daring Arapaho?

Robert

Oh my God, another person who doesn't understand what an "illegal
invader" is. If you knew there were land mines across a piece of
land that was illegal for you to cross, would you set foot on
that land anyway? I think news of the mines would get out pretty
quickly especially with all the warning signs and little bits and
pieces of criminal invaders everywhere. If they want a better life,
why don't they fix Mexico? By the way, my ancestors came to the
United States LEGALLY!

TDD

Robert Green wrote:
"RickH" 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/Sensiti...ation_Facility

in the basement where I can build my own version of the this:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008...raeli-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...

http://members.upc.nl/a.kutsenko/pictures.htm

"Robert Green" wrote in message
...
There no doubt that houses are getting "smarter" all the time. More and
more new homes are coming with goodies like alarm systems, intelligent
controls for HVAC, pools and sprinklers and even devices to monitor power
consumption in real time.

I've seen a lot of very expensive and complex systems to manage the
functions of "smart homes" but I've never come across something as small,
powerful and inexpensive as this unit:

http://www.cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/

I've cross-posted this in comp.home.automation and alt.home.repair because
I've seen a lot of posts about monitoring house conditions like
temperature
remotely in both groups. I was first alerted to the product in a thread
about USB home control in CHA. In that thread:

_USB module for monitoring multiple on/off switches_

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....n/off+switches

Marc Hult recommended this device instead as a much more practical way to
"communicate" with your house remotely than USB devices connected to a PC.

It took me a while to find the secret URL and I don't give cainetworks an
A+
for website design - this product doesn't even show up on their "Product
List." They seem to be a server load balancing company and I would guess
they built this thing for themselves as a service tool and then began to
realize it had other applications.

I have no interest in the company, other than as a customer and it's too
early to tell whether I am a happy customer or not!

WebControl interests me for a number of reasons: it can automagically
send
emails to a PC or a cell phone when a looked-for condition occurs,
assuming
you've got a constant internet connection. This condition could be a
furnace failure, an out-of-bounds temperature, water on the floor or any
number of other events that can sensed electronically.

It's got plenty of inputs - it can accommodate a Honeywell humidity
sensor,
up to eight Maxim DS1822 /DS18B20 12bit 1 wire temperature sensors, eight
digital inputs, three analog inputs and 20 different timers. It seems
from
my Google searches that these are popular with cigar lovers (to keep their
treasures at constant temps and humidity) and in-home horticulturists
growing various "herbs."

My first project will be a sensing project, too: I'm hoping to use it to
continually monitor how much power the whole house uses in real-time.
I've
read about a number of test projects using "smart meters" and they all
pretty much say the same thing: People who know how much power they are
using at any one moment will end up reducing their average monthly
consumption.

I've got some tiny current sensors that I will attach to the main power
feeds to the circuit panel, hopefully so artfully that an inspector might
never notice they're there. (Yes, I know the evils of mixing high and low
voltage gear and I don't recommend anyone but an insane person with total
contempt for life and the law even contemplate copying my actions!)

These tiny (1/4" sq.) Hall-Effect (HE) sensors generate a small electric
current proportional (well, proportional enough for me) to the current
flowing into the house from the main feeders. This unit should enable me
to
see the current current use from any PC on the home network. I should
even
be able to rig up an LED bargraph display that shows the real-time power
consumption of the house with another $2 worth of parts.

The unit has three 3 1023 bit analog inputs (0-10v) that should be able to
accurately measure the HE sensor voltage level and take an action (light a
bargraph LED, ring a chime, etc) when the voltage becomes greater than a
pre-determined level. Perhaps the hardest part is going to be accurately
matching the output level of the sensor to the actual home electrical
power
consumed. If I can't get a helper with a walkie talkie, I can
temporarily
mount a wireless CCTV cam outside pointing at the electric meter so I can
tabulate meter readings and how they correspond to the sensor output as I
add more and more loads. I will start with all the breakers off, but with
lights, etc. left on so that as I flip each breaker on, the load
increases.
That way I should have a scale that gives me a pretty good idea of the
juice
flowing through the circuit panel.

I'm going to make notes as I go along, paying particular attention to the
level of technical skill required to implement it. I'm afraid it's going
to
be high enough to make it a techie-only solution. But looking through the
manual

http://www.cainetworks.com/manuals/w...ide2-03-00.pdf

gives me at least a little hope that this unit may be simple enough that
with a little advice, a fairly low-tech user could implement a simple
system
that could, for example, send them an email if their freezer or
refrigerator
temperature rises out of the food safety zone. Ironically, that's why I
ordered the board (my fridge tripped the GFCI) but once I read the manual
and the specs, I realized it would probably make a good and cheap whole
house power monitor.

Previously, devices like this cost close to $200, so to my mind it's a
great
bargain.

The part that I haven't quite figured out about whole house power
monitoring
is this: What's the best way to notify residents that the house is
burning
kilowatts without being so intrusive that they'll just shut it off?
There
has to be some sort of override, too, because there will be some days in
the
dead of a very cold winter that the consumption will peak.

--
Bobby G.

I've got a vacation home with an ancient and expensive temperature sensing
setup that I installed 20 years ago. This looks like a nice way to upgrade
so
I just bought one. I'm a VB programmer, but have never done any cgi stuff,
and the
manufacturers 'void warantee' blurb scares me. Does anyone know of the
existance
or whereabouts of some sample temperature sensor cgi code? Google didn't
help.

Thanks in advance for any information.

John S.


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4580 (20091106) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:34:16 -0400, "Robert Green"
wrote in message
:

There no doubt that houses are getting "smarter" all the time. More and
more new homes are coming with goodies like alarm systems, intelligent
controls for HVAC, pools and sprinklers and even devices to monitor power
consumption in real time.

I've seen a lot of very expensive and complex systems to manage the
functions of "smart homes" but I've never come across something as small,
powerful and inexpensive as this unit:

http://www.cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/

I've cross-posted this in comp.home.automation and alt.home.repair because
I've seen a lot of posts about monitoring house conditions like temperature
remotely in both groups. I was first alerted to the product in a thread
about USB home control in CHA. In that thread:

_USB module for monitoring multiple on/off switches_

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....n/off+switches

Marc Hult recommended this device instead as a much more practical way to
"communicate" with your house remotely than USB devices connected to a PC.

I can confirm that the WebControl devices being shipped by the Amazon
supplier have the same v02.03.03 firmware as what www.cainetworks.com (the
manufacturer) upgrades exist units to. I recently had two boards that I
purchased about a year ago upgraded. CAi Networks did them for free for me
in appreciation of my testing of various 1-wire devices and Honeywell
humidity devices to them, but usually charge $20 + shipping which is more
than 1/2 the price of the board without case through the Amazon supplier.

FWIW, I found that the board works OK with the HIH-3600 humidity sensor as
well as the HIH-4000 series specified. The bug with the 1-wire appears fixed.
Previously, the board would only accommodate Maxim's low-accuracy ( +/- 2C)
DS1822 "Econo" device. It now also works with the "High-Precision" ( LOL ! )
DS18B20 ( +/- 0.5C)


.... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org

What is the part number for the digital I/O connector?

Best,
Christopher

"Christopher Glaeser" wrote in message
...
What is the part number for the digital I/O connector?

Best,
Christopher

Sophie, of their sales team, gave me this part number:

TYCO ELECTRONICS - 1658622-3 and said it was available from Newark
Electronics. Actually, she just said "Newark" and I assumed the
"Electronics" part but I never followed up because I found that an XT era
game port/joystick adapter cable also fits and I had a few in my junkbox.

--
Bobby G.

TYCO ELECTRONICS - 1658622-3 and said it was available from Newark
Electronics. Actually, she just said "Newark" and I assumed the
"Electronics" part but I never followed up because I found that an XT era
game port/joystick adapter cable also fits and I had a few in my junkbox.

Thanks. I found the connector at Newark. Now to locate a short piece of
ribbon cable. Would be nice if this connector were similar to the other
screw connectors on the board. Also, would be nice if this device could be
powered via POE. Still, can't beat the price with a stick.

Best,
Christopher

"Christopher Glaeser" wrote in message
...
TYCO ELECTRONICS - 1658622-3 and said it was available from Newark
Electronics. Actually, she just said "Newark" and I assumed the
"Electronics" part but I never followed up because I found that an XT
era
game port/joystick adapter cable also fits and I had a few in my
junkbox.

Thanks. I found the connector at Newark. Now to locate a short piece of
ribbon cable. Would be nice if this connector were similar to the other
screw connectors on the board. Also, would be nice if this device could
be
powered via POE. Still, can't beat the price with a stick.

Best,
Christopher

Send me your snail mail address via email and I will shoot you a length or
two. I've used up my game port connectors but I've got plenty of 20
conductor ribbon I can spare that you can peel off four conductors from.
Email address is munged - change 00's to OO's to get through.

Vendors do mysterious things. If I didn't already have some old PC game
port cables I probably would have paid three times the going rate just to
have the cable and connector available at time and place of purchase. That
was one of the things I really liked about fellow newsgrouper Jeff Volp's
XTB-II series. He sold the required cabling and likely accessories all at
the time of purchase, cutting the hassle factor immensely. And cheaper than
I could have gotten the stuff nearly anywhere else.

WebControl would probably serve themselves well by making the temp sensors
and the humidity sensors available through their Amazon storel. Their tech
support person Sophie did allude to some pretty serious restrictions placed
on them by Amazon like not being able to even point to their own site's URL
for the documentation. I know Ebay used to have similar restrictions, but
almost any big Ebay store nowadays seems to expect people to bypass Ebay
after the first sale and they post their own store URL's freely on their
Ebay listings.

My Honeywell humidity sensors arrived today, so I'm going to get to hooking
them up RSN, providing everything else cooperates. So far, that's not the
case. The car's developed a water leak somewhere, and is beginning to grow
mold I can't see but sure can smell. My security DVR decides to stop
recording randomly, which is quite annoying since some vandals stole all the
local street signs last night - while my new DVR was locked up!!! I've
alreadly returned it once because the drive cable was melted. This means
running all sorts of tests. )-: Electronics requires too much care and
feeding!

Well, I'll let you know a) the Honeywell sensors even work (they came from a
guy in Canada, not a big electronics house. They were half price, which
means only one of them probably works, b) if the two unit's readings agree
with each other and c) if they agree with any of the other humidity sensors
in the house (none of which agree exactly with each other, but are mostly
within 10% of each other. Mostly).

--
Bobby G.

"Robert Green" wrote in message
...
"Christopher Glaeser" wrote in message
...
TYCO ELECTRONICS - 1658622-3 and said it was available from Newark
Electronics. Actually, she just said "Newark" and I assumed the
"Electronics" part but I never followed up because I found that an XT
era
game port/joystick adapter cable also fits and I had a few in my
junkbox.

Thanks. I found the connector at Newark. Now to locate a short piece of
ribbon cable. Would be nice if this connector were similar to the other
screw connectors on the board. Also, would be nice if this device could
be
powered via POE. Still, can't beat the price with a stick.

Best,
Christopher

Send me your snail mail address via email and I will shoot you a length or
two. I've used up my game port connectors but I've got plenty of 20
conductor ribbon I can spare that you can peel off four conductors from.
Email address is munged - change 00's to OO's to get through.

Vendors do mysterious things. If I didn't already have some old PC game
port cables I probably would have paid three times the going rate just to
have the cable and connector available at time and place of purchase.
That
was one of the things I really liked about fellow newsgrouper Jeff Volp's
XTB-II series. He sold the required cabling and likely accessories all at
the time of purchase, cutting the hassle factor immensely. And cheaper
than
I could have gotten the stuff nearly anywhere else.

WebControl would probably serve themselves well by making the temp sensors
and the humidity sensors available through their Amazon storel. Their
tech
support person Sophie did allude to some pretty serious restrictions
placed
on them by Amazon like not being able to even point to their own site's
URL
for the documentation. I know Ebay used to have similar restrictions, but
almost any big Ebay store nowadays seems to expect people to bypass Ebay
after the first sale and they post their own store URL's freely on their
Ebay listings.

My Honeywell humidity sensors arrived today, so I'm going to get to
hooking
them up RSN, providing everything else cooperates. So far, that's not the
case. The car's developed a water leak somewhere, and is beginning to
grow
mold I can't see but sure can smell. My security DVR decides to stop
recording randomly, which is quite annoying since some vandals stole all
the
local street signs last night - while my new DVR was locked up!!! I've
alreadly returned it once because the drive cable was melted. This means
running all sorts of tests. )-: Electronics requires too much care and
feeding!

Well, I'll let you know a) the Honeywell sensors even work (they came from
a
guy in Canada, not a big electronics house. They were half price, which
means only one of them probably works, b) if the two unit's readings agree
with each other and c) if they agree with any of the other humidity
sensors
in the house (none of which agree exactly with each other, but are mostly
within 10% of each other. Mostly).

Well, I got one for Christmas - from my wife! So now I don't have to think
up projects to convince her - but I'm still thinkig up things to do.

Any progress reports possbily available elsehwere?

Jim