Currently my power button is located at a very horrible place to reach.
I was wondering if just pulling the cable is safe? I mean in more elegant way of:
“hey, google. Turn off Snapmaker” using Philips wifi switch.
it seems that is safe since original button seem to just kill all power.
However i am not sure if keeping the switch always on and removing power from the outside is actually the same thing to the machine.
Electrically, you’re better off using the switch that was designed to handle the instantaneous current surges that happen around power on and off. I know I’ve destroyed a microwave and electric tea kettle by not using the power buttons. In the microwaves case, we’d open the door at 1 second rather than letting it finish. That eventually destroyed the magnetron due to eddy currents. For the tea kettle, where I live, water boils at 209F / 98.5C, but the kettle wasn’t smart enough to handle that. So we’d just wait until it was boiling, and pick up the kettle. Eventually the contacts failed, and it wouldn’t heat any more. Both took years of daily use for the problems to show.
However, for the power levels we’re talking here, I doubt it’s a big deal. Particularly if the machine is idle when you do it. I’d consider it a “if you’re comfortable with the idea of a having to replace the connector if it does get damaged”, then go for it.
Looking at the inside of the PSU, the switch on the back just hard cuts the power to the machine, so a wifi switch doing the same thing at the outlet would be no different than the switch built into the PSU.
@clewis: Your microwave example isn’t quite the same, since it sounds like the microwaves being emitted we’re the cause of the issue (I’m sure in microwaves, there’s probably some “soft ramp down” circuit to prevent that, unless you pop the door open, and then it’s forced to rapid shut down to protect you from irradiating yourself). Your kettle example is also not the same, since when lifting the kettle off the base, you’re creating an opportunity for tiny bits of arcing which will slowly wear the contacts away.
If anything, using an external power switch before the PSU would actually help it live longer, as long as the switch is a clean cutoff.
tl;dr: WiFi outlet is fine, if not better than hitting the switch on the PSU.
PS: I’d recommend looking into ZigBee or zwave instead of WiFi, the “s” in IoT stands for security, it’s better to give those devices their own connection layer with no ability to reach your data instead of constantly worrying about them getting 0dayed and opening a hole in your network.
I do it the same way with a smart power socket.
Nice, thanks guys