Implement wake on lan - F6k and PGXL

G8ZPX

At the moment external trickery is required to do remote power-up/down of remote Flex 6k radio and soon the PGXL amp.

A much cleaner and smarter method, not needing any 3rd party external **** would be to implement the wake-on-lan feature (WOL/WWOL). Almost all I.T. kit connected via Ethernet has this capability and every decent server is shipped that way as standard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN

I support hundreds of remote access sites and my life would be hellish and very wasteful without WOL.  Not a complicated bit of software, no hardware or cable spaghetti needed....a SMART solution.

Please vote if your setup would benefit from this.

Ben Laws

Well put! Definitely a good idea.

Jim Gilliam

I don't think this WOL is possible with the 6300, 500, 700. Had I been head of the engineering department, this would have been an obvious addition to the 400, 600 series.

Jim, k6QE

G8ZPX

Actually, its normally part of the Ethernet/WIFI NIC chipset. Only requiring the software to act upon the hardware triggers.

Mike va3mw

I have no issue turning on or off my 6300 remotely with my web relay. Since you may need these for additional remote functions, dedicating a relay was a non-issue.

Jim Gilliam

Yes, you are correct, but that is not the only way to "skin a cat."

Jim, K6QE

Jim Gilliam

I think you are missing the point.

 That is the same argument as why have WAN capabilities when I can easily use my VPN.

Mike va3mw

Not at all. Rather than wait for it, I just worked around it so that it wasn't a showstopper for me. Yes, it would be a nice to have for some. Personally, I have had limited success with WOL, but I suspect that is just my lack of experience with it.

Jay -- N0FB

My post from 2 years ago: https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/shut-down-via-ip Welcome to the party.

Pat N6PAT

Put me down as a "Yes". Sounds like a great option to include in V2

Ken Hansen

An elegant solution, but one that requires a hardware change as well as a software change I suspect - even if the chosen etbternet chipset supports WOL, there is 'glue logic' needed to implement the feature to control the power feed to the rest of the radio.

Kirk

Great idea and one that should be implimented. 

G8ZPX

kind of goes hand-in-glove with the core principle of it being a remote "radio server" ?

Bob G W1GLV

How do you **** the transmitter remotely with WOL. This is an FCC requirement. I'm not that savvy with the depths of TCP/IP.

Toby Payne

I could really implement it.  

Ria

I like the idea of WOL. Shaves a few cents off the power bill and adds longevity to the fans. Makes me feel nice and green too even though this household is pretty darned energy efficient. I upvoted this. 

Ken Hansen

WOL would not '**** the transmitter', it is only a power on function.

Pat N6PAT

You could use an IP outlet like Wemo to **** the AC power going to your DC PS which in turn will **** the power to your Flex

John Cooper

Killing the AC power is a rough way to shut the radio down.  My Astron power supply slowly lingers as the output voltage wanders it's way down to zero.  A software shut down is much better. Locally, the front panel power switch is a momentary toggle switch to start the power down (and also the power up) sequences.  Remotely, the radio should use the Remote Power Down sequence available at the RCA jack on the rear of the radio.  This allows the software to orderly exit the software routines it's running.   

Tim - W4TME

A best practice would be to use cascading power up devices.  One on the DC power supply and another on the REM ON connector.  In general, you would always use the REM ON to power up and down the radio.  The one on the DC power supply would be used as an emergency "**** switch" of if you want to power off everything immediately or shut down for an extended period of time.

You can shut down the radio by abruptly removing the DC power, as the file system is very robust and to the best of my knowledge a file system failure due to this has never occurred, but it isn't a best practice.

k3Tim

I recall a reply some time back concerning remote on/off not being possible because there is no power available once the radio shuts down. For W0L (or other methods) would require a sub-system in the 6x00 be powered continuously and act on the event.

The 6400 $$ question: does the new 6k series support remote on/off.

Interestingly (?) a good smartphone has 32 or more power domains that can be powered up/down as needed. 

_..-- 
k3Tim /6

Tim - W4TME

The 6400 $$ question: does the new 6k series support remote on/off.

Yes

Norm - W7CK

I wish you would give a few details Tim.

I'm assuming it requires external hardware to accomplish the on/off function such as an external relay wired into the jack on the back of the rig and operated by yet another external device.   It would be nice if it supported on/off via TCP/IP - across the network.

Ken Hansen

As I read the documentation, something as simple as a Raspberry Pi with a relay driven by one of the I/O pins on the Raspberry Pi and a simple web page to toggle the relay should suffice. A project like that would be fairly trivial, IMHO. For example: Web control of power outlets - http://www.instructables.com/id/Web-Controlled-8-Channel-Powerstrip/ Web control of LEDs - http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-and-intuitive-web-interface-for-your-Raspbe/

WV9L

For what its worth.....a cheap remote power solution sold at Walmart. Try an ecoplug. For under $20 and a free app. You can control several of them. I have one on my 6500 and one on a cabinet fan on a DMR repeater i maintain about 100mi away. You can do simple on/off, set times schedules, etc.

WV9L

I simply have an RCA plug on the remote power on plug on the back of the 6500 and control the AC to the Astron supply.

WV9L

For a more elaborate or multifunction option i know Remoterig offers an ip relay interface for contolling power, rotors, etc. they also offer ip controlled antenna switches.

KY6LA_Howard

I useacouple of Digital Logger Web Switches

Ken Hansen

Nice, just ordered one off eBay, looks like a nice, simple option. So you simply control the radio power supply, and the radio powers on because you've jumpered the Remote On jack, or do you have a 120v relay that jumpers the remote on jack? Thanks Howard

Norm - W7CK

I'm not sure what you mean by "I simply have an RCA plug on the remote power on plug on the back of the 6500 and control the AC to the Astron supply".   Maybe I don't understand what your doing but I don't think it is a good practace to just turn off the 12v dc power to the rig when you want to turn it off.  The Flex radio is a computer and I believe it should go through a normal shut down procdure.

Can you describe what your doing a little bit better for me? 

I have 2 ways to control the rig.  1: A remote controlled relay to the RCA plug on the back of the rig which triggers the NORMAL start up / shut down procedures.   2: A remote controlled switch to cut 12v power to the rig in the event the Flex is unresponsive to step 1.

WV9L

Thats what i do with the eco switch i posted above. Jumper remote on jack and cycle the eco switch, which cycles the supply, thus the 12v to rig.