Re: [SLUG] computer-controlled outlet

From: blee2@tampabay.rr.com
Date: Thu May 27 2010 - 10:21:50 EDT


Thus Eben King hast written on Thu, May 27, 2010 at 01:49:39AM -0400, and, according to prophecy, it shall come to pass that:
> Hi, I'm looking for an outlet I can turn on/off under software control.
> Does such a thing exist? I have a few applications in mind -- a
> long-running script on my laptop/PDA that would automatically turn on the
> charger at (say) 10% and off at 95%; and a cron job that would turn on my
> lava lamps at $TIME1 and off at $TIME2 (they take a while to warm up).

Back in the day, I bought the $5 starter pack from X10. (and got
maketing emails for the next 3 years.)
It has a remote, a wireless reciever with lamp plug, a second plug that
will handls a bit more current, and a fig newton that plugs into a
serial port. They're 2 prong outlets though.
I had some pretty nice things setup to turn lamps on and off when people
logged into AIM or when it was time for bed/to get up.
I think X10 still sells that kind of stuff.
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