Topic: Recovering from a power failure

[jcoode]

I am considering installing a weather station at a remote location that I am only physically at once every three to four weeks.  My question is about recovery in case of a power failure.  I can put in a UPS on the computer, but in case all power is lost, does anyone know of a way to have the system restart automatically upon restoration of power?

[ncpilot]

I have a small UPS on my computer, mostly in the case of a long power outage, so I can shut it down gracefully. You should get some sort of monitoring software with a UPS that will allow computer control, and allow shutdown at X minutes after power loss. You don't want the battery to run down completely on the UPS or I believe any kind of "bootup at power on" won't work...

I forget where you set bootup on power restoration, maybe in the BIOS?

Then put all the programs you want to start at bootup into the startup folder...

You might also consider some type of remote control/access ability, so you could log in remotely to make sure everything is ok.

Logmein works well for me, secure, encrypted, browser interface...

[anchorageweather]

I am considering installing a weather station at a remote location that I am only physically at once every three to four weeks.  My question is about recovery in case of a power failure.  I can put in a UPS on the computer, but in case all power is lost, does anyone know of a way to have the system restart automatically upon restoration of power?

The BOIS of MOST computers have a setting called "last state" under "start-up" that, after a power outage, will restore the computer to its last state of operation.  For example, if the computer was on - the computer will automatically restart after a power outage; if the computer was off - it will remain off when the power is restored.  A couple of hints:

-make sure you do not have any passwords that are required during startup (this would prevent the computer from booting completely).

-Make sure the software you are using can "start when windows starts up" (oddcast is an example of software that is supposed to do this - but a bug prevents it)

I have a Dell desktop that is configured, such that when the power is restored; it completely restarts, boots all the weather software, (except oddcast) and I don't have to be there  

Hope this helps.

[ncpilot]

Yeah, that darn Oddcast... although the "hacked" version floating around, by wuhu I believe (it has the equalizer option), will start up most of the time, but the equalizer settings need to be re-entered...

[Mark / Ohio]

I saved a document a fellow posted on the subject a couple of years ago.  I think it might have come from the Ambient forum but not sure.  Here's a cut & paste of it:

Making Remote Weather Stations Reliable
By Claude Schoch

Included below is some information on hardware devices and software settings that can dramatically increase the up time of weather stations connected to the internet. While this info is especially important for weather stations located at remote sites, it applies just as well to maintaining home stations while you’re at the office, running errands or on vacation.  It is based on my experience in successfully operating a remote station located 5 hours way that I physically visit less than once a month.

What might need fixing?
Different weather station setups have different weak points. Your long time experience with what has gone wrong in the past is very important in determining priorities in what might go wrong in the future.  Based on this experience you can invest in software and devices that suit your specific needs.  It ends up being a balance between how often something is likely to go wrong, and how much down time your are willing to experience before it’s fixed.

How quick do you need it fixed?
There are three levels of repair access to your weather station:

Manual Access.  This is what you probably have now. You need to physically get to your weather station computer, cable modem etc. to fix or change anything.  If there is always someone at home, this method works fine, but if you’re not home when the station breaks, someone needs to physically get there to fix anything.

Remote Repair   This means you have a way to remotely log on to your weather station computer, cable modem and router to reboot them, make changes etc. By making provisions allowing remote repair, you can fix your weather station from the office or hotel room when traveling.

Automatic Repair.  This method uses technology first developed for satellites and un-manned space missions called a watchdog timer.  The station is monitored and when something goes wrong, things are automatically rebooted or adjusted as necessary without human intervention.  The automatic repair option has the huge advantage in that problems are fixed very quickly.  The other methods require that you notice that the weather station has died.  If you are traveling or sleeping, it might be several hours before you notice.

Cable/DSL Modem and Routers
Some cable modems and routers have a way of freezing up from time to time. How often this happens depends on your cable provider and your cable modem model. Usually, powering them off and back on quickly fixes the problem. So how do you go about rebooting a cable modem, router when you’re not home to do it?  There a couple of methods, depending on how quickly you want your connection to resume.

1) Timed Reboots.  
For your cable modem and router, you can get an electronic timer that removes power from your router and cable modem for 1 minute either during timed computer reboots, or other times during the day.  I’ve used a Radio Shack X10 timer and have successfully recovered from locked up cable modems several times using this method.  I had it set to power off the cable modem and router 4 times a day, and I time those power offs so they occur in between WU and webpage update times. The disadvantage in this method is that if your cable modem locks up, your service is down until the next of these scheduled X10 power off/power on reboot sequences.  But if you want an inexpensive automatic option, this does work.
A special note if you are using an X10 timer.  Include a 2nd “power on” a minute after the first one.  X10 isn’t 100% reliable, and if the first power on fails, you’re down until the next power off/power on sequence unless you have that 2nd redundant power on a minute later.

2) Remote reboots.  There are various X10 devices that allow you to power off and power on devices remotely using a telephone.  By hooking up your cable modem and router to these devices, you can effectively remotely reboot them whenever you want.  This falls under the Remote Repair category, so you have to notice that your station is down for this method to work.

3) Automatic Repair reboot.  A company in NJ makes a neat power switch called the iBoot.  It can be set up to monitor your internet access and reboot your cable modem and router (or anything else) within a minute or two if either one fails.  The iBoot is also accessible from a web browser from anywhere in the world, and you can adjust the configuration and even do a manual reboot from anywhere in the world  The iBoot monitors your internet access by sending a user specified ping out on the internet.  If the pings stop coming back, (indicating that your router or cable modem is locked up), the iBoot will automatically cycle power off, and back on to your router and cable modem.  The iBoot can also be set up to listen for transmissions from your computer. If your computer locks up and stops sending those intranet transmissions, the iBoot cycles power off and back on the your computer to reboot it.  (Of course you need to make sure your computer bios options are setup to allow your computer to automatically power back on after power is re-applied.)
The iBoot lists for $275, making it the most expensive option, but for those that want minimum down time, it’s an effective tool.  I’ve set up my iBoot to ping at one minute intervals and wait 6 minutes before rebooting.
The reasons for this are to minimize downtime in case there is a failure of the remote server you are pinging. With a 6 minute cycle time, you can get 5 minute WU updates out with minimal disruption if the iBoot is erroneously cycling due to a distant ping problem rather then a local lockup.



Remotely Accessing your Router
If you are using a router, you can usually configure it for what’s called remote administration. This allows you to log on to your router and check its status and reboot it if necessary using a web browser from anywhere on the internet.

Computers
Weather stations computers need to be remotely accessible with software, and you need a method to do a hard reboot incase they lock up.

Remote Computer Access
There are many programs that allow you to remotely access your weather computer.  I use Remote Access PC.  Using remote access software, I’ve been able to remotely restart my weather software, upgrade the weather software and change any weather software options. I’ve also done a software reboot, upgraded Windows, and copied new htx pages for my website, all like I was actually sitting at home at my weather station’s computer.  
I’ve found that being able to remotely access your weather station computer is the single most important aspect of keeping it going when you are away from it.

Remote Hard Computer Reboot and and Power Issues
What happens if your computer either locks up or shuts down?  Your remote access software is now worthless because your computer isn’t running enough for you to access it.   You need a way to remotely power up and down your computer.  But before we look at options to do this I want to first talk about important BIOS power settings for your computer.
Most computers won’t automatically power up when power is applied.  You first need to press the On switch.  The BIOS setup of most computers has an option that allows the computer to power up as soon as power is applied.  Turning this feature on is essential for automatic recovery after a long power outage.   It is also critical to make sure this option is on when remotely powering on and off your computer.  Without this option, your computer will not turn on again until someone walks over to it and presses the On switch.

Another nice feature to have is a battery backup power supply that keeps your computer, router and cable modem going for a while during a power outage.

So back to remotely turning your computer on and off.   Computers do not like their power turned off without you first shutting down the operating system.  If your computer is remotely accessible, you should always first try a software reboot using your remote access connection.  If you can’t get to your computer with your remote access software, then cycling the power is OK, since the computer is probably off or locked up anyway.

There are basically two methods to power up and down your computer remotely:

1) Using a telephone controlled remote X10 switch. Pressing keys on the touch tone phone will allow you to remotely power off and power on your computer.
2) Using an internet controlled power switch.  The iBoot (mentioned above under rebooting of routers and cable modems) allows you to remotely power on and off your computer from any web browser. The iBoot also allows an automatic repair option where your computer can send the iBoot a heartbeat signal.  If that signals stops because the computer has locked up or turned off, the iBoot will automatically cycle the computers power causing it to reboot.

When using these devices, it’s important to place them BETWEEN your battery back up and your computer.  Otherwise, your computer will keep right on working off the battery. The only time you may not want to do this, is if you want your computer to power off gracefully using the battery backups software to force a operating system shutdown.  If doing this, you need to make sure your off/on cycle time is long enough for your battery backup to exhaust itself and cause the computer to power off in the event the software shutdown fails.

Automatic Fixes using Software
If you are really into automatic repair of your stations data transmissions, the ultimate solution is software that monitors transmissions to WU, CWOP and your web site updates.  If these updates stop happening, the software can either shutdown and restart your weather software or reboot your computer in an attempt to automatically fix things.  There’s nothing currently available out there but this would be the ultimate in automatically keeping your station going.

Links for iBoot:
http://www.dataprobe.com/power/iboot.html

Remote power switching
http://www.dataprobe.com/control/webx10/webx10.html
http://www.smarthome.com/5000.html


My Current Setup
Below is a description of the setup I successfully use to control and update a weather station I physically visit less than once a month.

Cable Modem/Router
Both are plugged into an iBoot device.  The iBoot is setup with its autoping feature to ping the IP network address of the web hosting company where I keep my weather web site. The pings are set up to go out once a minute. If 6 consecutive pings fail, the power is removed for 16 seconds and turned back on.  I have found that this effectively solves all router and cable modem lockup issues.
 
I’ve setup my router to allow http access to the iBoot through port 81.  By typing in my weather computer’s IP, followed by a colon and 81, I can log into the iBoot from anywhere in the world to force a reboot, change the ping IP destination, or remotely make any other configuration changes.

My router is setup for remote administration using Http port 80. By typing in my weather computer’s IP, I can log onto the router and make firewall changes, check logs, etc.  I’ve also setup the router to email me its logs when they fill up.

My cable provider provides me with a dynamic IP address.  Since it’s essential that I know the IP address to access my router, iBoot and computer, I need to know when the IP changes, and what the new IP is.  There is a couple of ways to do this.  The best is to use the dynamic IP update feature of your router to report your new IP to a free dynamic IP updating service.  Your web hosting company may provide this service.

Computer
I keep my computer plugged into an X10 appliance module.  I have a phone X10 controller that allows me to dial into the house and power on and off any X10 device including the computer.   In the rare instance that I can get to my router and iBoot, but not my computer, I can phone into the X10 controller and power down and power back up the computer.

I use Remote Access PC to remotely access the weather computer.  I’ve found that you can remotely do literally anything you want with your weather station computer.  You can change any setting, upload intervals, html pages, etc.  I’ve signed up and setup up transmissions to Wunderground, CWOP and Weatherforyou all completely remotely. In fact once I got my weather station initially connected, I’ve done all the other setting up and maintenance remotely.  Remote Access PC has a nice file transfer feature, so I work on my html pages at home. Once I have them looking like I want them, I use the remote file transfer to put them in the correct directory of the remote weather computer.

Weather Station
I’ve hooked up a X10 relay module to the power switch of my weather station.  Extremely rarely a close lightning strike will cause my weather station to lock up, requiring a reboot.  If when I log onto my remote weather station computer I can’t see any info coming from the weather station itself, I can call my phone X10 controller and power off and power back on my weather station.  My station is solar powered.  If you have a plugged in station, then just use an X10 appliance module to plug it in.

[ncpilot]

I use X-10 for a lot of stuff around the house, but I think it's pretty much a dead protocol. The latest seems to be Insteon.

I wouldn't leave a port open on my router for remote admin, I'd use something like logmein (free...) to access the remote computer, then log into the router through the remote computer. Logmein is completely encrypted.

Although in this article it appears that an X-10 device will work when placed between the UPS and computer, it could have flaky communications due to possible filtering by the UPS itself. The X-10 signals just ride on top of the AC sine wave...

"Automatic Fixes using Software
If you are really into automatic repair of your stations data transmissions, the ultimate solution is software that monitors transmissions to WU, CWOP and your web site updates. If these updates stop happening, the software can either shutdown and restart your weather software or reboot your computer in an attempt to automatically fix things. There’s nothing currently available out there but this would be the ultimate in automatically keeping your station going. "

Could tinplate's Startwatch do something like that?

[Mark / Ohio]

....
"Automatic Fixes using Software
If you are really into automatic repair of your stations data transmissions, the ultimate solution is software that monitors transmissions to WU, CWOP and your web site updates. If these updates stop happening, the software can either shutdown and restart your weather software or reboot your computer in an attempt to automatically fix things. There’s nothing currently available out there but this would be the ultimate in automatically keeping your station going. "

Could tinplate's Startwatch do something like that?

I saved that file Nov. 2005 so some of it is a little stale now.  That's BTS time...(Before Tinplate's Startwatch   )  To some extent a combination of Virtual VP and StartWatch are monitoring that as I understand it.  But I don't think he's monitoring the actual data uploads within the Start Watch program just processor and memory activity.  I think he did mentioned the possibility of configuring it to monitor internet connections with the port monitor somehow.  At the time I did not pay much attention being on dial up.  But now with DSL it becomes more of interest.  So far I've only had a hand full of connection drops in 6 months that I've known about.  When it does happen it tends to kill the rapid fire uploads in VWS.  I also had a couple of Windows updates do that.  But I just set it to ask first before updating which is what I should have had it set to in the first place.