[PLUG] Enclousures and power

Zot O'Connor zot at whiteknighthackers.com
Mon Nov 10 20:57:01 UTC 2003


On Mon, 2003-11-10 at 16:47, Jeme A Brelin wrote:

> oh, perhaps one could put a firewire enclosure in a UPS that is serially
> controlled (USB or otherwise) so you could actually power up the enclosure
> and do the save/restore all automatically.

Well there are two other options:

1)  Use a serial controlled switch.  There are ($$$) switches for server
rooms that can be controlled remotely. T urning a UPS on and off may not
be a smart thing to do.  I am not sure they are built to take many
cycles. Sides, will a UPS turn off right away, or will it drain?  I
wonder....

2)  Some USB, and therefore it should be that some Firewire, devices get
power off the pins.  That is the main difference between 4 and 6 pins. 
I do not know of any firewire enclosures that do this, but I have heard
of USB hard drives that will power off the port.  Given the ability to
shut off that power, you have what you need.

3)  Making a relay that runs off the com switch or parallel port is
pretty strait forwards.  Run the power through the relay, and switch off
the com port will get you there as well.

4)  You can do this all with X10 for about $40 (get the right sale, and
it should be less).  Most of the computer controllers have 1 switched
outlet on them (almost always Port 1).  Hook a serial line up, grab any
of the X10 programs, and walla!

-- 
Zot O'Connor

http://www.ZotConsulting.com
http://www.WhiteKnightHackers.com





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