kramer

Thanks for the suggestions tikbalang - a couple of points on your reply: standby and hibernate mean he same thing to me, there may be a subtle difference, all I meant was I didn't want it sitting there with the fans running constantly in a powersave type mode. I experimented with the hibernate function but for whatever reason the pc didn't reconnect to the ADSL until it detected mouse or keyboard inputs, so I abandoned that in favour of a cold boot which I would prefer anyway. The captrick link was interesting but not quite what I'm trying to acheive. I had considered using an external modem but as I have several obsolete internal modems and my only external modem is USB powered, I am more than reluctant to buy yet another modem, when there are are other solutions using what I have. Lastly, the monitor doesn't need to be turned on as no one will be looking at it, but I still get to see the remote pc as though it was on ( I checked just to make sure ) I'll get there in the end, thanks for your help

Thanks for the reply. First of all, I have no concern about turning the computer off because once it has started up, and sent me its IP address, which I have already sorted, I can take control with PC Anywhere and shut it down. In the event of that failing I will have it set to hibernate after a set time. Having read about other projects here, it looked to me like I should be looking to maybe use a transistor as a switch rather than a relay, but I don't know what type or rating or how to wire it up. Relays I understand, transistors I don't!

I'm sure there is a very simple solution to this but I only have a very basic knowledge of elctronics, but I am a 'dab hand' with a soldering iron! I want to be able to power up my computer at my holiday home so that I can look at a cctv output. I don't want the PC on standby all the time. I need to 'short' the power up pins on the motherboard. I figured if I used an old mobile phone and took the voltage from the 'vibrator' I could use that voltage to power a relay and create the switch. Unfortunately the voltage output for the vibrator is only around 1.5v and not enough to 'trip' the relay I bought, which appears to need at least 3v. I need to know how to increase the voltage to cause the relay to work. All articles on inverters seem to be about much bigger voltages. If anyone can answer the question or suggest any alternative approaches I would be very grateful as this is the last piece of the 'jigsaw' to get the whole thing working. Thanks