Hi folks. I just received my Veralite today and have installed my first device, a Kwikset lock. So far, so good…
I’d like to be able to trigger the power being turned off to a receptacle, then have the power restored automatically w/o further input from the network. The idea is that I’d be able to perform a hard reset on my network equipment and have it power back up automatically, obviously I can’t send a signal to restore the power if the router and/or Veralite don’t have power. I’ve looked a fair amount for a device that’ll do this but can’t find anything.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Nope. None of the receptacles have an auto On option. In order to turn the receptacle back on, you’ll have to have Vera running.
If I absolutely had to create the ability to power cycle the network, I might;
-
Put the network gear on a Z-Wave controlled circuit with a Vera scene to cycle Off and back On after a delay.
-
Put Vera on a separate circuit with a network attached power outlet/UPS.
You could go crazy and use two Veras on two different Z-Wave networks attached to separate power outlets so one Vera could power cycle the other. But, I certainly wouldn’t recommend that.
I choose to use UPSes and never cycle my network gear. Occasional reboots of individual equipment can be initiated from software. This works quite well for me.
Edit: It has since occurred to me that the Remotec ZFM-80 Dry Contact Switch has a configurable fail safe option to turn the relay On or Off, automatically, after a timeout period. It could be used for this application.
Thank you, I’d seen this device before and wondered if it might work this way, but I’ve been unable to find any sort of documentation on it.
I definitely don’t intend to try running two independent networks.
My problem is that I’ll be running my system remotely most of the time, and every now and again my ISP gets flaky and requires a reboot of my modem to reestablish comms. I don’t expect to NEED to do it often, but I’m considering creating a scene to drive a hard reset every so often to help ensure I don’t get locked out of the network. Of course, I recognize a danger to the hardware, with all this rebooting, but I’m willing to take that risk.
Thanks again,
Chuck
The issue here is if the modem is “flaky” how can you be sure you can even turn it off let alone turn it back on. If its hung in some inactive state you are toast.
Usually such events are handled by an inactivity timer which fires a reset. Maybe you could script a LUUP ping to a reliable external server from Vera. If the ping fails vera powers off the modem and then powers it back on. This way vera is dependent of external communications to take action on the rogue modem.
You could also set Vera to do a routine reset, say at 3AM everyday to power cycle the modem. If it is a memory leak then resetting regularly might keep the leak from overrunning a stack. I had a Belkin home router that had that as a programmable “feature” self resets on a periodic basis. The answer to buggy software!!! Anyway sometimes pragmatic just makes more sense.
@ChuckB - Remotec ZMF-80 User Manual
@CuriousB and Z-waver, thank you both. I’m afraid setting up the ping routine is beyond me at the moment, I don’t have the skillset currently and don’t, unfortunately, have the time to figure it out right now. Heading overseas in a couple of days and have run out of time, will have to rely on family in the area to come in and reset me if the need arises.
Well if you are stuck put a timer on the router and modem and have it power cycled each night at say, 3AM. Just turn it off for the minimum program timer the timer you use has. This will mean you at least won’t go more than 24 hours to recover from a network outage. Crude but may be enough for the short term.
<$5
http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-24-Hour-Plug-In-Basic-Timer-15119/100685881#.Ugqyj53D-70