Power Control for Loft PC's

[Rich]

Hi,

I have read your install pages and really like the idea of all the HTPCs in the loft but I am unsure how you control the power to the PCs?

Do you have the ability to power the units on and off from each of the rooms or are the PCs perminantly left on?

Thanks
Rich

[enjaytee88]

I have a WHS in the loft and is left on 24/7.

Currently runs Squeezeserver which shuts down on locking up or putting in hibernation with Wakeup on LAN.

Wouldn't mind a solution to this so I can be a bit more energy efficient (you would hate to have our 'leccy bill, we are per month what most are per quarter).

[northan]

You should check out elootos excellent solution here in hisforum page.
A very simple and very effective solution on his part, I'm sure he will be around to explain anything about that part of his system.

As for me, the server sleeps when it detects no activity, and can wake at scheduled times either using bios wake up settings, or this simple program called lights out.
Most of the time I wake it using autoexit from my laptop, but I have contemplated having some hard wired switch to manually control the sleep state.
Elootos uses a remote to manage this via infrared (not sure ) by RF remotes can also been used so they can work through walls and dont need line of site to work.
When I get around it I believe I will do this and intergrate this within my automation system.

My htpc's just go into normal sleep modes, which is wakeable by the server for backing up and can wake up to for scheduled tv recording if need be. Granted there is some power usage, but with the right gear you can obtain a good green footprint.

[elootos]

(01-27-2010 11:26 PM)Rich Wrote:  Hi,

I have read your install pages and really like the idea of all the HTPCs in the loft but I am unsure how you control the power to the PCs?

Do you have the ability to power the units on and off from each of the rooms or are the PCs perminantly left on?

Thanks
Rich

Hello and welcome to the site!

My lounge and bedroom PC are turned on via the same principle; the power buttons in their PC cases are spliced into wireless relays (electronic switches). I then just push the button on the keyfob of the relay and it's the equivalent of pushing the power button on the front of the case. The relay for the bedroom PC is next to the PC itself in the loft, but the one for the lounge PC is behind my TV as the RF signal wouldn't reach to the loft from all the way downstairs, plus it's reassuring to hear it 'click' when pushing the buttons so I know its working

Wireless relays are really handy to use for all kind of projects; I also use them to switch on the garden lights and used a standard £6 one from Maplin to create my original drop-down-the-screen-when-the-projector-comes-on system before I upgraded to the now wireless one in the lounge.

You can read more about it in my Install section here. And also follow the link in the text on that page to direct you to a little explanation in my blog here (the blog being the better explanation I think).

It's the one thing I get asked about most as PC power and activity is the most important feature of any Media Center install.

If you have any more questions, fire away! I'm never sure how well I explain things

   


However I don't use the relay to turn the lounge PC on that often, only at weekends to turn it on earlier in the day because it's set in the BIOS to come on at 6.30pm automatically anyway, then it shutdowns automatically everyday with WinOFF at 1am (unless I boot it down earlier when going to bed).

I use the same 'BIOS on, WinOFF off' for the server.