Remote Operation Power Switching?

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

I am getting ready to figure out how to make my station ready for remote operation.
The means I need two things at least:

1.  Remote WiFi or Ethernet controllable 120 VAC power switch relay board.

2.  Remote WiFi or Ethernet controllable 220 VAC relay, for Amp.

I know that people have posted a fair number of parts/options for 120VAC relay units.
What are people using for their 220VAC Amplifier switching?

Also, some of the 12 volt equipment probably prefers to be switched, rather than just
come up with the 12 volt power supply being turned on.   I have an HF-Auto tuner,
and some other items.  Do you guys use other relays to switch your 12 volt gear,
or just let one massive surge turn all of it on when you switch on the 12V power supply?

I am fairly sensitive to equipment failures, unattended, for a long time, causing a fire.
So I do NOT wish to leave everything running 24/7 if I am not present to monitor it.
Do any of the remote Ethernet/WiFi power switch boxes also require a password,
so that no random network glitch or scan can cause a power on?

Cheers,

Neal

Bill W2PKY

May want to include a cheap WiFi camera to visually monitor the equipment.

Mark NS9N

I use only solid state switches to switch my line voltage 110 or 220. Here is an excellent tutorial. https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/power/solid-state-relay.html Then pick the internet switch of your liking but I made my own with a raspberry pi and use VNC Viewer, a free version is available for single use, which if the internet goes down all the pi switches go to off and the station shutdowns perfectly. You can buy a pi relay board with 4 or 8 lower power relays and then switch everything in your station independently. There are any number of pi programs out there you can copy and modify to your liking. I switch my AC power with one output, the remote flex radio input with a 2nd one, antenna relays with a third, and my amp with a fourth. Enjoy the project. I never programmed a pi before and learned a lot doing so.

Mike-VA3MW

W7NIK

I also Use the kamtronics udp board lan IP as much as you can . I use team viewer, and pst rotator . And of course the smart sdr iPhone app or a computer. The amp I use is wire into the on off switch with the relay s , and stand by / operate is another relay . BE VERY CAREFUL 120v mixed voltage is dangerous. Meaning 12v on 6 relays and 120v switch legs on two relays. Identify the wires . If the amp is plugged in the 120v switch legs are hot . Ameritron 1300. . Just my opinion.

JohnK2CIB

Steven WA8Y

I use dyndns with all my remote ip addressable devices. I use RealVNC, to see my PC and amplifier screen. I use a Cyber Switching Dualcom S 120/240vac ip addressable PDU. I use a Digital Loggers relay to remote switch the Flex On/Off before switching On/Off the Flex power supply.
I have a RF-KIT B26 RF- 2K+ amplifier with has four antenna outputs. That helps me manage my antennas as it follows the Flex 6600's frequency and band changes. The amplifier has a built-in ATU.
I have a 5-band 2 element Quad. I use PSTRotator software to control my Green Heron/YaesuDXA1000.. I use a SainSmart 8-relay board to hack/add extra OR gate inputs to my Ameritron RCS-10 Remote antenna switch. There is USB bit cable between the SainSmart relay board and my Flex.
I use a Maestro to control the Flex and a laptop to control the rest from anywhere with good Cellular or internet service.
I've used it for months at a time for the past 3 or 4 years.

Steven WA8Y

I have a ip camera in the shack to get a peek out the window or look at the shack equipment. I haven't used it to look at the shack in a long time.

Steven WA8Y

My PC in the shack gets shut-down like any PC then I turn Off the power. But the bios is set to start the PC when power is applied.

David-N5PSM

Larry Loen WO7R

Larry Loen WO7R

The power-up-when-power-restored BIOS feature is a really critical thing.  I have recovered my PC (in the extreme case) by powering it down and then up.

But the critical thing about this setting is that your PC comes up after an ordinary power failure, which is a very good thing.

Your ISP's box, your router and whatever you use for the A/C switching must also come up flawlessly after a power failure.  There is no UPS that lasts long enough -- I don't even use one.  I also have a solution that sets up a VPN automatically.  My remote site is for all practical purposes invisible on the internet.

EA4GLI

I agree with Mike´s post 100%. Hard cable everything, it is way more stable.

A few of my own experiences.
Even though I have everything on hard cable, I run a local router with WiFi in the radio shack for devices that are WiFi only. They are not mission critical and the WiFi Router itself is connected to a LAN Switch in case I need to reset it.

I also use the KMTronik but I use them with 220v without issue. Instead of 15A you get 10A.

My amp and power supply get their own Actuators that get activated through KMTroniks.

PSRotator (great piece of software) allows you to interact with the KMTronic. It also allows for Rotator access remotely and it has some nice integration with weather station. PSTrotator will connect with the Flex radio by TCP and allow you to turn on and off devices based on frequency. For example, I only turn on the PSU of the transverters if I am in the 145MHz, 430MHz frequencies.

Cameras on the Radio Shack are invaluable. And several Remote access options are also important. I have 3, Teamviewer, Anydesk and Chrome Remote, running at the same time on the same computers.

SA7AKE

bobby

The $20 wyze v2 camera available at your local Home Depot store or online works super and has no monthly fees just connects to wifi and uses an SD card for local recording and you get cloud storage free which holds up to 14 days.

DrJ

I agree. I do 75% remote operation. All Flex equipment including PGXL. The new DLI (Digital Loggers 90-250 VAC) remote power controller works over Wi-Fi and or Ethernet. I can pre program cycling power off or on, remote turn off or on and also a wifi camera to look at everything to boot. Believe me I have been remote operation for over 10 years and this is the best way. I have Green Heron antenna switchers and rotor controllers as well. Everything hooks through my DLI. Commercial industry uses this.

Mike-VA3MW

Wow!  Glad to hear about the 220  Power Controller.    Is this it?  https://dlidirect.com/products/new-updated-rack-pdu-with-wifi

I had the previous one briefly but I found the User Interface not appliance user-friendly.  

Jim Gilliam

David-N5PSM

EA4GLI

Outstanding! Great ideas in your setup. Thanks for sharing.

David-N5PSM

thanks,  The ControlByWeb device has REAL web  support.  It can even talk to other devices and control them like the "DataLoggers" and others.