Remote Power On Computer w Google or Alexa CHEAP

WiFi Wireless Smart Switch Inching PCB - https://amzn.to/2OugGia

https://www.modsandprojects.com/pc-re...

Forget WOL! (wake on LAN) – With this inexpensive hardware board you can power On/Off your desktop PC remotely (or locally) via a free mobile app, or with verbal commands via Google or Alexa.
If you’re reading this you probably have a desktop computer. When it comes to raw power, flexibility, and upgradability it’s hard to beat the good old-fashioned desktop form factor. The only real disadvantage our old friend the desktop has is that it’s stationary. *gasp* Nope, It’s not on-the-go, at your side like so many other mobile devices in today’s society. To access it via a remote access solutions such as Team Viewer it first needs to be powered up remotely. We need a simple, stable solution to enable PC remote power control from outside your home. Let’s do this!

First, lets take a moment to talk about doing it the old way. The old-school, software method of remote startup via Wake on LAN (WOL) has been around forever. In my experience it has always been tedious to configure, and unreliable outside your home or business network. I used it for a while but I had to manually configure the ARP table in my router (I’ll just stop there because it gets really technical). Suffice to say I was not a fan of the WOL configuration. My hardware method is pretty much bulletproof. Let’s get on to doing it the hardware way.

In addition to our primary goal of PC remote power control I had a secondary objective with this project. I wanted the ability to turn my desktop computer on and off with voice commands via Alexa and Google. From anywhere.
Yes, I know I am obsessed with smart home functionality! 😀

One day it dawned on me, the ATX 24-pin power connector in all desktop motherboards has a 5VDC standby pin. The pin on the power connector supplies 5VDC all-the-time as long as the power supply is plugged into the wall. Even when you power off your computer, this pin continues to receive 5VDC. It’s the perfect candidate to power the board to get the PC remote power control we are looking for! BTW, this is the Board I use if you are interest in trying it out

All in all it’s pretty easy to implement and very similar to what I did in a previous blog post on how to remotely control any Garage Door Opener

Basically, all we need to do is power our smart, remote relay board off of the 5VDC standby pin on the ATX connector shown here:

Once the relay board is powered, connect the momentary push-button leads from the relay and connect them to the desktop motherboard using the same two pins that your power button on the computer are connected to. Your desktop power button will continue to work alongside the modification. Here’s what the motherboard header typically looks like:

The control wires do not need to be soldered, you can simply get a thin gauge wire and crimp it in there with the original connector (I show how to do this in detail in my YouTube video). Once you have it all wired up you just need to configure the mobile app on your phone, link it to your Google or Alexa account and you are in business!

Congratulations, you can now have PC remote power control via hardware, app, and voice!
You can turn your computer on and off from anywhere via your mobile phone app or via verbal commands through Alexa or Google. It’s especially fun issuing the verbal command from elsewhere in the house “okay Google turn on my computer” and by the time you get to your desktop to sit down is already booted up and ready to go!