Roberts Blog
Do you recognize this?
Your Wifi becomes slow, Internet stops working.
You power cycle your Wifi router and everything runs smooth again.
Why not automate this?
Power cycle your router once a week, during the night, so you wont even notice.
That is what I started out trying solve.
US Solutions
Google presented me with some nice solutions: all for the US market only:
For example: NetReset NR-1000US Automated Power Cycler for Modems and Routers (http://www.netreset.com/)
I could not find a complete solution for the European market.
Timers
I thought about using just a simple 24 hours mechanical timer.
But all of these have a minimum off-time of 15 minutes, which I think is too long.
Another drawback is that these are all 24 hours clocks, so the router would power cycle every night, which is overkill.
So I ended up buying a cheap digital week timer from Hornbach for just 4,95 euro.
If you buy something this cheap you will know the user interface will be difficult, manual will not be a great help.
But I was surprised how easy it was to configure. Not that I will throw away the manual, in a couple of weeks I will not known how it worked anymore.
So time to set it up. It has 10 timers, all have an ON and OFF.
Programmed a time slot with:
ON: 14:02
OFF: 14:00
That did not work. It will only switch OFF and not ON.
I tried some different things. Could get it to work the way I wanted. Some times it keep turning OFF at 00:00.
I had reached a point were I thought it was time to find another solution.
Then I saw the company name at the bottom of the manual: Cixi Yidong Electronics Co. Ltd.
Google found the website directly: http://cn-yidong.com
I was surprised by the quality of the website. But couldn't find more information about my TGE-2A.
I thought what the hack, lets send an e-mail and see if they can/will help me.
Surprise: Great customer service!
I had not expected to receive a reply, let alone a very useful one.
But I was pleasantly suprised to receive this:
You need to set 2minutes on Thursday. For example, 2:00am OFF, 2:02am ON, Thursday.
1. Press ‘masterclear’ to reset TGE-2A.
2. Set current week and time in TGE-2A
Press TIMER twice and release. LCD displays 1 OFF --:--.
Press WEEK till LCD displays " TH".
Press HOUR till LCD displays 2:00am or 2:00.
Press TIMER again and release. LCD displays 2ON--:--.
Press WEEK till LCD displays " TH".
Press HOUR till LCD displays 2:00am or 2:00.
Press MINUTE till LCD displays 2:02am or 2:02.
Press CLOCK back to current time screen.
Select AUTO mode
NOTE: To recall any ON/OFF program, you can press RST/RCL button in the program setting mode. The display will replace the program with dashes “--:--”. If you just want to use few ON/OFF programs, please make sure the rest ON/OFF programs shows “--:--”.
Hope it can give you a help.
I configured the timer with their instructions and it works perfectly. It only turns off for 2 minutes on Thursday 02:00 at night and stays on the rest of the week. Super happy with their support.
Thank you Cixi Yidong Electronics.
So if you want a cheap solution to power cycle wireless router: use the Cixi Yidong TGE-2A, which in the Netherlands is sold by Hornbach.
Why not wireless?
Why did I in not use a smart-power-socket with a wireless connection and some home automation solution?
A Wifi solution, like the TP-Link HS100 Smart Plug, is not an option, yes you can turn off your router, but because your Wifi network is off, you can never turn it back on.
You could use some 433 MHz power sockets, like the KAKU ACD-1000, combine that with a home automation system. But what if the receiver mist the turn on signal? Can you connect your mobile phone to the home automation system to resend the ON signal? No, your wifi is down. Yes, you could use a 433 MHz remote or a wired PC, but that would all be work arounds. And a 433Mhz receiver is much more expensive then a simple digital week timer.
Disclaimer
I'm in no way affiliated, associated, sponsored, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with: Cixi Yidong, Hornbach, Klikaanklikuit or TP-Link.
