I’m needing a cheap but reliable way to remotely power cycle some pesky device controllers. I know there are several home use devices out there that have app control but I’d prefer something with a web interface instead of an app. Any suggestions? Simply need to log in and toggle outlet power occasionally.
There are a number of mediocre devices to do this, and a few better ones. You can also pick up some used PDUs on eBay fairly cheap. If you want really rugged, good at a wide temp range, and never gives any trouble, take a look at DLI. Web Power Switch! - 15 Day Free Trial! - Ships Overnight - From $109!
A few things to note:
- They’re not cheap (though not horribly priced)
- Their UI looks like it’s from the 80s. Don’t worry, it’s solid.
- Their webpage has annoying auto-playing videos all over the place. Mute the tab before you browse there.
- They’re very scriptable, and easy to manipulate/monitor from your own external systems/scripts, etc. I use them to toggle high-draw devices on a scheduled basis, based on weather, and other stuff.
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If you have a good bit of money: https://www.wti.com/
If you don’t: https://3gstore.com/product/6081_2_outlet_ip_switch.html
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Perhaps not quite what you intended, but the WeMo plugs are easily controlled from a command line, and it would be easy to put a webpage up for it. Alternately, I might recommend a build-your-own using a Raspberry Pi.
While I don’t have personal experience with them, there are rather featureful yet relatively inexpensive ones here: WebRelay | Ethernet Relay | Remote Relay Control
(The 2nd link that @willpolley posted, they have cheaper single-outlet versions, also.)
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I’ve put in the DLIs before and they worked without issue but were a bit goofy to setup.
Try this…I used this in one of my remote site and I am quite happy with it. When you think of “inexpensive” , this is good. https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-mPower-Pro-External-Control/dp/B00HXT8IN2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1515013646&sr=8-3&keywords=ubiquiti+mfi
MPower is EOL for quite a while, I don’t think I’d invest in that ecosystem. I’ve also used these devices with good effect http://amzn.to/2COMoke
I’ll second the Digital Loggers, they are rock solid. One of my clients use them at their FM radio sites, never had a problem with them.
I agree with avoiding mPower due to their abandonment. The hardware itself is fair to OK, but a bit flaky. You can control it via SSH and a reasonably simple /proc interface, without using their controller (and flaky Java versioning issues - yeah, I’d love those days of my life back). But with all that said, it’s just not quality kit that I’d rely on.
We use APC to do the job. Works pretty well!
mPower is supposedly not dead but it has been an awfully long time since Ubiquiti first announced they were pulling development resources and rebooting the product at some unstated future date.
Despite this, it’s ~$30 for an mPower mini and the mFi controller software is free to run on Mac, Linux, or PC. I mean if it were me I wouldn’t be nervous about investing in it as it fits the bill, ought to work for you for several years, and it’s certainly a lot cheaper than some of the other solutions out there (and even easier than some of those expensive solutions).
Did you run it on Windows? I’ve found Ubuntu is hands down the best way to run mFi & UniFi, I had endless java issues with Windows, especially 32bit.
I found the Mac version to be stable but to complicated to try and run as a service, plus who runs MacOS as a server anymore.
Yeah, I’ve run it (and still do) on both windows and linux (debian, ubuntu). It’s not impossible to use, just more hassle than it ought to be – there were also some bugs in earlier builds that also tainted my views.