Topic: Remote surveilance (Page 1 of 1)

I was asked by a relative to set up a system so he could see/log what was happening at their country-side house when they were staying in their apartment some distance from there.

Just setting up a webcam and streaming the video would be no problem since both locations have a DSL connection, but he wants to be able to shutdown the country-side cumputer/modem/router if there's thunder etc, and have it start up x hours later.

I thought of using an UPS unit to handle the power and run a program similar to WebCam XP or Watchdog to handle the video(s).

But I've not found a feature which makes an UPS unit enable the power to whatever is connected after a set amount of time. Since the modem will be turned off too, any wake-up calls will be unheard...
And the trip out there is too long to make just to flip on the power.

If you guys have any experience of something similar, then please share it.

/TwoD

Well, no external power unit I know of will be able to just turn your computer on when it re-enables the power. In modern systems, itj ust doesn't work like that. The power switch triggers a small circuit on the motherboard that triggers the power supply that feeds full power through, and lo! Boot-up begins. It may be possible to get a unit that will go into a PCI slot, be externally programmable with a wake-up time and such-forth, and will do the triggering for you, but I don't know. I've never seen anything like it. I know of setups that can be used to reboot a system and maintain a connection... see what google turns up for you. You may try this, though.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

Yeah I know how the motherboard initiates the boot by telling the PSU to let power through and so on.
I have an old computer here which automatically boots after it detects that the power is back on, even if it wasn't running when the power was lost (which is kinda annoying), hopefully the same option exists in his bios.

However, what my relative was looking for is to have a timer on the UPS unit so it won't let power back on for x amount of hours after it has cut the power (manualy or due to powerloss etc), even if external power is still available during that time.

Once the power is back on and the saftety timeout is over, I don't think I'll be a problem to make the computer boot.

I can't find any info about timeout features in the UPS product specifications and I'm having a hard time finding someone who knows or has been using a unit themselves.

Maybe I'm making this sound like a big issue... I just want to know if it's possible or not.
If it's not, no big deal, the power to the modem and other stuff will stay on (hopefully protected by the UPS unit) and if the computer won't auto boot, we'll try a remote wake-up...

/TwoD

If the comp is on a DSL line by a ethernet connection you could use a "Wake-on-Lan" signal. His motherboard should support it though but unless the comp is olders as 5 years this should not be a big issue.
Search google for wake-on-lan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-101
I think there are ups's who have their own WOL connection but i don't know if they could start a computer. Normaly they take over when a comp is loosing power not the opposite way.

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(Edited by Rinswind 2th on 07-10-2006 01:45)

(Edited by Rinswind 2th on 07-10-2006 01:48)

A lightning rod is probably your best bet :P

Yes, I know about WOL, was planning to use it as a backup method of booting, if I can't make the power come back on after a set amount of time, by leaving the modem on (protected by an UPS).

Anyway, I'll just have to dig deeper into this and figure out what is capable of what and under which circumstances...

/TwoD

Shouldn't be a problem at all - provided there is power when the machine tries to turn itself on.

Most modern bios can power up the system on a given time, and you can set that in the bios.
It should be doable via apci from a running operating system, otherwise, it still should be able to bring the system back up
within 24 hours (worst case scenario.)

The problem is not how to boot, it's how to turn the power on when it's time to boot, since he wanted the power to be completely off during bad weather.

I was hoping UPS units had a timer function so they could keep the power off for a set time. When that time expires, the power comes back on and then it boots (Using either a bios timer or WOL, whichever works best).

I don't want to make a timer circuit for 230 Volts and a PC interface for it myself, and it would be illegal if I did, but no timers I know of can be set/started remotely. I think I'm stuck with keeping the power on for the modem and computer all the time.

/TwoD

The thing about a good UPS, though, is that they're made to 'clean' power. Removing spikes and dips that you get through electrical storms and power outages, smoothing out the power curve to something regular and non-damaging to the equipment connected to them. You shouldn't need to turn power to the UPS off during whatever, only to the devices connected to it.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

Yea, I know that but my "client" is used to unplugging everything when there's bad weather, and it's difficult to reason against his instincts lol

Oh well, I'll focus on getting the cameras to work when I get up there (in about a week). Haven't actually bought the equipment yet since I'll do that when I get there. So I still have some time to change my mind.

I just learned that my neighbour is about to set up 8 cameras to check up on their summer house because they have had 7+ break-ins when they were'nt there. He had bought some kind of camera hubs which could control 4 cameras each. Haven't talked to him about it yet, but if they have a reasonable price, it might be the thing I'm looking for.

/TwoD

edit tp: spam removed.

(Edited by Tyberius Prime on 04-29-2015 15:36)