Topic: Is there any interest in a hardware board which will allow remote power cycling (Read 19526 times)

Three more here!

In exchange, I promise you fresh baked shiny Bitcoins. 

I'd be interested as well. I'd need three of these units.

Any way I can talk you into a couple?  Or at least one?

Thanks but I already have a power cycling board for 8 rigs.  There wasn't enough interest for me to try and mass produce the boards.

I was thinking of making a finished project to sell (maybe parallel port control in a gutted UPS, since they have outlets and a breaker), but I decided to just sell my solid state relays for your projects here cheap:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/wts-solid-state-relays-120v-power-switching-76678

Video fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-UB5mhac_g

I'm in for 1.  Down to 3 rigs now so either the $100 or $75 version is fine.

I think what you have will work fine. The only reason I mentioned solid state relays is because they are reliable (no moving parts) and shouldn't require additional components such as caps. Anyways, the holding the power button option sounds sufficient for this application.

The length of time can be customized.  I have never had a failed rig not power cycle when holding down power button although I guess it can happen.

Not sure what you are asking about solid state relays.  They tend to be even more expensive but aren't necessary for this application.

For direct power switching the additional cost comes from the requires of switching 15A @ 120V/240V vs <1A @ 5V.
a) receptacles & housing
b) higher gauge wire
c) higher current relays

So we are looking at more like $200 per unit.  Seems like a lot more cost and complexity for not much gain.

So if I understand correctly, you have modified the design specs so that the relay now holds down the power button for ~4 sec to kill the box, instead of switching the power? If so, what about +5VSB which stays on regardless? It may need to also be switched off in order to completely reset poorly designed boards.

Also, yes power switching is a bit more complicated, but I wonder how much extra solid state relays would cost. They do require some current to stay on however, but I don't know how much.

I got a PM asking about a smaller board.  Really smaller boards don't save much cost but if there is enough interest I could do a 4 port version for <=$75 (exact price will depend on bulk purchasing).

Nothing as long as you are running on 240V and all your rigs combined used less than 2.4KW.
There is also nothing wrong with the PDU that giga linked to.  Switched PDUs rock.  I was so glad in my last job when our company stopped being cheap and upgraded to switched PDUs.  Click-click reboot crashed server.  Their only downside is the cost per watt is pretty high as they tend to be designed for dense racks, so they have more ports and less wattage than we need.

If I could find a switched PDU that had:
* 30A input (24A usable) @ 240V
* NEMA L6-30P plug
* At least 6 C14 plugs
* <$200
I wouldn't have even started this thread. I would have bought it last year.  The only problem is .... it doesn't exist.


I guess one way to look at it would be a new spec:  "$ per KW switched".

The PDU giga linked to:  20@ at 240V = 4.8KW.  $450 / 4.8KW = $93.75 per KW
The PDU you linked to:  10@ @ 240V = 2.4KW. $130 / 2.4KW = $54.15 per KW
The best used PDU I have found on ebay:  30@ 240V = 7.2KW.  $600 / 7.2 KW = $83.33 per KW

USB board efficiency would depend on how many rigs and how much wattage:
USB relay board powering 6 1000W rigs.  6*1000 = 6.0KW.  $100 / 6.0KW = $16.67 per KW
USB relay board powering 8 1200W rigs.  8*1200 = 9.6KW.  $100 / 9.6KW =  $10.41 per KW
Mini USB relay board powering 4 1000W rigs.  4*1000 = 4.0KW.  $75 / 4.0KW = $18.75 per KW

Far right drop down has English.   There you go.....

If I could read that web page, I might be interested.

What's wrong with something like this? (I think about purchasing one)

http://www.reichelt.de/?ACTION=3;ARTICLE=102254;GROUPID=4308;PROVID=2351;&utm_source=Preisvergleich&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Preisvergleich_preisroboter.de#av_tabdata

~ 130 USD, max. current 10A

Ok... in either case, it's better than most alternatives, so I'm definitely in for 2.

Yes.  Any machine with USB connectivity and capable of either windows or linux would be fine.  I would recommend it not being a mining rig for maximum reliability.   I am using a barebones machine which hosts p2pool and bitcoind as well as running ANUBIS for monitoring.

I looked into ethernet boards but they were more expensive and that still requires some software running somewhere to do automated reboots.

I'm down for at least 2 of them.  However, can you reiterate what is hosting this?  Another machine?  Essentially, we'd have to have a barebones dedicated machine to handle this to have some reliability, right?

Some details and photos.  Sorry about not getting the photos out last night.  Wife had a bad day at work and we "solved" it by getting plastered.  

Note: the board in the photo is a higher end board with lots of ADC (measuring analog sensors), and DC power circuits.  It is much more expensive (~$200) than anyone would want for turning rigs on and off.  I bought this because I need remote sensor monitoring and out of band power control.   Still it should give people some ideas.



My goal is to use a similar lower end board with 8 2A relays and USB interface.  I scrapped serial interface idea as I found a board which doesn't have a huge premium for USB over serial.  Power is 12VDC supplied by a Molex adapter.  Each kit will include the relay board, control software (initially Windows but eventually Windows & Linux) and wiring adapters for power control.



The power control adapter connects to the ATX header on the motherboard.  It is connected to the power switch not reset pins.

Why switch power at the motherboard and not from the wall?  Cost and safety.  To handle full rig current would require using 10A relays and inductive capacitor which add about $20 in cost.  Honestly even that is risky.  Pulling >1200W could burn the relay and possibly the usb controller.  Worse if voltage sags (which can happen) then current rises.  1100W on a 102V circuit is >10A.  So to be safe under all conditions 15A/20A relays would be better and that adds about $40.

Switching low voltage DC is safer and easier.  Worst case scenario if relay fails in open or closed posistion it is no different than either not pushing or continually pushing the power button on your computer.  Failures are "clean" and safe.  Motherboards and ATX PSU already have the expensive relays and safety circuitry built in so why not use it.

I tested it with leads as long as 6 feet and switching is reliable.  I did 20 on off cycles and had no failed trips.  I can test it for longer leads is there is need.    Essentially the relay is no different than pressing and holding the power switch.

Configuration requires a little testing.  I found it takes 1200 msec to power on rig, and 4000 msec to power off the rig.  A nice feature is that is the status of the rig is unknown keeping relay closed for 6500 msec will ensure the rig is now off.  (If it was off it will power on and then back off).  I call that "forced off".  Since the board can't know for sure if a rig is off, "forced off" can be used to put the rig in a known state.  It then can be powered on.  I imagine this will vary by motherboard but can be tested/verified by simply pressing and holding the power switch.

This afternoon after I get out of some meetings I will post some shots of the (alpha) software.

I have experience to write a windows software.  A command line and GUI application for manual control and configuration plus JSON API for extending functionality to third party applications.    I will need assistance with porting that over to Linux.  Someone has (thankfully) already PM indicating he is interested in helping on the Linux side and based on his coding experience it shouldn't be an issue.  I will let him announce it in the thread if he wants it public.

Cost will be ~$100 per kit (controls 8 rigs)
* USB relay board with eight 5A SPDT
* wiring for connectivity, power, and connections to remote rigs (plus some spares)
* open source manual control software plus API which would allow 3rd parties to write automated control (reboot on crashed GPU)
* support & troubleshooting

Update:  mini USB relay board.
If there is enough interest I can also offer a 4 rig version for $75.  Sorry less relays don't save that much but if someone knows they will never need more 4 rigs switched it might be an option.  The mini board would work exactly the same except it would have 4 not 8 5A SPDT relays.

To make this worthwhile I will need interest in at least 10 boards.  Sorry but margins are small and my time is valuable.  Not asking it as this point but before I order parts I will require a $10 pre-order deposit.  I board isn't shipped in 4 weeks (should be faster than that) or final price ends up being >$100 you can cancel and get deposit back.  If board is ready for shipping at <=$100 deposit is non-refundable (you could sell your deposit to someone else).

Thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, rants, objections?

I thought this cheapo ethernet relay board software includes an open API.

I actually got shipment for mine to US so can't fiddle around yet, but i'm sure i can whip up an easy to use interfacing layer quite fast when i do.

My thinking was to chop up the power cords and place the serial relays inline, but I can see that that would be a pain for so many machines.

In a dual PSU rig, it is only necessary to switch off the first PSU (the one that powers the motherboard), and not both, so an SPDT relay would be all that is needed. It is a good idea to use SPDT, because then you can connect the rigs across the normally closed terminal and leave the relays in the "off" position unless you want to power cycle a rig. Less wear and tear.