Turn on my comp!

    The task of turning on or rebooting a remote computer in a person associated with development arises quite often. In order not to strain our colleagues and homework, let's shift these responsibilities to the arduino, especially since Ethernet shields on the W5100 have fallen in price on Ebay .


    We will connect according to the following scheme:

    Thus, when the arduino is turned on, the functionality of the front panel of the computer is fully preserved, and the power button works in any situation.
    In addition to the arduinki and Ethernet shield, you will need a relay, optocouplers and a piece of breadboard and other small things. An approximate circuit diagram of the switching device is shown below. You can definitely do without a relay and probably without optocouplers, but I wanted to completely isolate the motherboard from the switching device.


    It remains to flash the arduino, assemble a sandwich of three boards and connect it between the motherboard and the front panel of the case. Make no mistake with the polarity when connecting the LEDs. After switching on, the arduinka flashes three times with all the LEDs and lights up the control LED if it was possible to start the web server. All. The internet switch is ready to go.


    The script for arduinki can be taken here . Please note that if the motherboard starts flashing with a status LED, this will be misinterpreted by the script. To use sleep mode instead of shutting down, you need to supplement the script with an analyzer of this behavior. In this case, it will be more correct to connect the status LED through an optocoupler to one of the ADC pins.

    Update:

    Conclusions:
    • The device has learned compact, which allows you to place it inside the PC case.
    • And inexpensive, with a homemade Aruinka you can meet $ 20.
    • There is feedback on the power and screw indicators. In many ways, a psychological advantage, but do not languish with expectation - you can immediately see that the computer has started and the screw is spinning.
    • The device is expandable. At what both in hardware and in software. At minimal cost, you can also add relays and sensors. Expand functionality by working through SMS, etc.
    • It can be recommended as a start when studying MK. The device combines several technologies, it is interesting to work with it, it is quite simple and also useful. It can be used to monitor a home computer, for example.

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