EU Baytech RPC-3A Remote Power Control @ Ebay 35 Euro

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bateau

Member
Jan 22, 2017
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You will need a serial cable for the setup. It has a custom wiring layout, you will have to set that up yourself (you only need GND,RX,TX, and none of the other signals) or get a cable from the manufacturer, but after that you can run it from ethernet only.
Cisco serial cables do NOT work.
 
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anomaly

Active Member
Jan 8, 2018
235
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Well, here you go.

(sorry, out of sequence, cannot move easily in this editor)


Zoom on power supply:

View attachment 8042
Power supply and relays:
View attachment 8046



Processor and relays:

View attachment 8043


IR image of processor and relays

View attachment 8044


IR image of power supply roughly matching the "zoom on power supply" image.

View attachment 8045


It is a mix of relays eating a lot (about 1W per relay), plus a bit power supply inefficiency.

To lower power consumption, you'd have to replace the relays, adapt the power supply (now: mix analog/switch via regular transformer + UA78S40) and driving circuit (now: ILQ30 quad opto).
And you'd have to replace the processor if you want more secure communications.

Can be done. Is it worth it? Don't know.
You rock, I wish most people were as informative.
Also nifty FLIR captures...

I think it would be much more sensible to rip it all out and leave the connectors only. The relays are solid state I suppose. Worth our time? I doubt it. I would likely eliminate the PSU only, switch it for a very low profile high efficiency LRS unit from MeanWell, add a filter (differential pi) for noise, a cheap step down converter with another inductor/cap configuration to reduce all the crappy switching noise, for whatever lower voltages from 12v to drive other circuits... and be done with it. Protocol can be done by configuring your managed switch, putting this crap on its own vlan, and having your own stunnel of sorts to pipe SSL out into the insecure vlan. It would not be too difficult to make your own board for this but I think it's way too much time for what you get out of it. Then again I'm not one to judge how others use their time. It is a fun project that someone would learn a lot from.

A PSU swap will likely reduce the power consumption a good bunch.

BTW, the seller never shipped, he argued he shot down my offer after accepting it because I had a US address (I have both EU and US shipping addresses). I wonder if he will send it or not... been a few days....

If someone has one he wants to get rid of, PM me. I will pay shipping and share whatever mods I make.
 

sd11

New Member
Jun 2, 2016
28
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I have one of these that i'm not using. I believe you can telnet into it and setup through there, not just by serial cable.

I stopped using it because of the power draw, also due to the fact that I never actually used it remotely.

I'm in the middle of a move, but if someone happens to be in the Toronto area and wants it... It's theirs. I also have some APC PDU's they can have as well.
 

bateau

Member
Jan 22, 2017
49
14
8
The relays are solid state I suppose.
They are electromagnetic, thus represent a large part of the power draw (plus the inefficient darlington optocoupler drivers plus the power supply inefficiency). My guess is that most immediate gain could be had by changing the relays.
 

Mishka

Active Member
Apr 30, 2017
101
34
28
London, UK
Anyone know an easy source of the suitable cable so I can get into the thing and reset it, only want to get it onto my network so I can then use the nice lil windows app on it unless sd11 is right about being able to telnet into it and reset?

Mine arrived today as per others it has Left rack ear only but I have to admit the seller did go OTT with packing peanuts and I've opened up the power plug and it has 3 cables so going to rewire it into C14 so I can plug it into UPS in the future or whack it onto standard UK plug
 

bateau

Member
Jan 22, 2017
49
14
8
I have to admit the seller did go OTT with packing peanuts
Yes, you'll need to vacuum the thing thoroughly if you want to avoid the smell of burning plastic later on.

About the cable: if you have a soldering iron, make one yourself. Or scavenge a cisco cable, turn some wires around and crimp another RJ45 plug on it. Relatively easy to do. And there are kits of RJ45 to DB9 cables that you can rewire through jumpers. I had one a looooong time ago.
 

sd11

New Member
Jun 2, 2016
28
1
3
39
Anyone know an easy source of the suitable cable so I can get into the thing and reset it, only want to get it onto my network so I can then use the nice lil windows app on it unless sd11 is right about being able to telnet into it and reset?

Mine arrived today as per others it has Left rack ear only but I have to admit the seller did go OTT with packing peanuts and I've opened up the power plug and it has 3 cables so going to rewire it into C14 so I can plug it into UPS in the future or whack it onto standard UK plug
I hooked up the ethernet port and used Wireshark to view broadcasts. Once I had it's IP I was able to change it via Telnet.
 

malakian

New Member
Apr 8, 2018
2
0
1
34
hello

received mine 2 weeks ago. with Left AND right rack ears! :D

But i still can't reset it... tried to plug it into my PCwith wireshark filtered on the good interface. I see an IP (i think..). Then, tried to configure my interface on the same subnet with the next IP. But... nope.. nothing, no ping.. :/ any ideas?
 

bateau

Member
Jan 22, 2017
49
14
8
Factory reset procedure (do NOT do unless you have a serial cable, read on):

****
To reset the password on the RPC-3A you will have to reset the unit to
it's factory default. You can do that by using the following
instructions:

1. Turn off the power to the RPC3A
2. Remove the lid
3. Locate JP1 on the Ethernet board
4. The jumper is placed on pins 1 and 2, move it to 2 and 3
5. Turn power on for 10 seconds
6. Turn power off
7. Return jumper to its original position.

****

After a factory reset, the IP address is 0.0.0.0. If you did a factory reset, you NEED serial to set it up.
You will have to have the correct cable or make one, as the pinout is somewhat strange. Cisco cables do not work. See Baytech RPC-3 to DB9 serial port adapter pinout diagram @ pinouts.ru and others. You only need GND, TX and RX, and can ignore the other pins.
The RPC3A does not support DHCP.