DIY OT: Telephone controlled mains socket?

[Bramble-Stick]

Hi, Apologies for no DIY content (although I could probably build one myself, but it would lack appropriate H&S accreditation...), but I know that there are people on this group with wide experience and knowledge about what is out there.

I'm looking for a mains socket which can be dialled into to switch on or off a device. In this particular application, it is a networking device which occasionally hangs & needs to be restarted. I've found lots of internet remote controllable sockets, but the problem in this case is that if the device hangs, the remote end loses internet connection & it is therefore inaccessible. I then end up with an 80 mile round trip.

I did find one on the RS site some time ago, but it is no longer available. The only other ones I've found are China Telecom units, but I can't find a supplier over here (and I can't run to their minimum order of 500 units :-)

Anyone know of a suitable device?

Many thanks, Bramblestick

[Steve Lupton]

[Bramble-Stick]

Gobsmacked! I spent a good 2 hours in the Farnell/CPC catalogue today trying all kinds of searches - sockets, telephone, remote control etc & didn't get this.. Out of curiousity, did you already know of this unit, or did you just search for the right thing?

Anyway, I am sincerely grateful - have a virtual beer on me!

Bramble-stick

[Andrew Gabriel]

Another possibility would be a digital timeswitch, which switches the device off every night at 03:00 and on again at 03:01. If the hang is something that happens after some internal resource eventually runs out, that might stop it. If it's randon, you know it will be working again tomorrow (if that's good enough).

If it's something like an ADSL modem, it's probably cheaper to just buy another (hopefully more reliable) one instead.

[Steve Lupton]

I get junk mail from CPC every few days (it seems!) and remembered seeing what you had asked for in one of the mini catalogues. I must admit, it took me a few minutes of searching to find it though. 'phone switch' was the search phrase that worked in the end :)

[Bramble-Stick]

Thanks Andrew - that does seem a possible solution. The device is a VPN gateway from a major-player network security outfit, and sadly isn't that cheap. The problem usually manifests itself if I upload a new profile, but it is only ever sort of one out of ten when it hangs - chances are that it is a bug, but support have been scratching their heads for ages, and I need a pragmatic solution. I'll give Steve's lead a try, but thanks for the suggestion - gives me a standby option. I can schedule updates after hours and wait for the timed reboot.

Cheers, Bramble-stick

[dennis]

Get an X10 controller and switch.. run a daemon on one of your computers that pings the net periodically.. if it fails the daemon can switch the X10 off and then back on to reset the router. I expect there is open source code out there to do it if you don't want to DIY.

[tony sayer]

In article , Bramble-Stick scribeth thus

Its a right hole that website we still get paper short form cats and can find stuff there that a web search never finds..

Quasar electronics do a very good device like this tho it may not be what you want up to Four or more remote via phone changeovers.

They have others tho..

is a ping alert device that will as it sez ping a device and if no ping for a time will re boot it..

Might be a bit overkill fore what U need tho...