Please read the instructions for using the unit before reviewing the hints!

First, Thank you for reviewing and possibly purchasing the Power Stone^tm UNIT! Many clients have had great success in using the unit to REMOTELY turn off a variety of devices via a simple phone call. It lets you make the decision to keep the device operational or "take it down" while away on the road, office or data center. With the Power Stone^tm you are the decision maker as to the status of your computer. The additional built in functions allow you to automatically power down, power up, reboot or keep the power on during an incoming phone call. There are many configurations that the Power Stone^tm can be programmed to perform to keep your equipment up and active.

You may want to review our RPS Software, which sends the control codes for the RPS II unit over a modem. The software allows for monitoring and scheduling of connected devices. A FREE demo is available.

Below are some hints/experience on setting up the Power Stone^tm RPS II for your application.

The most obvious starting point is the powering up of your computer. Because the Power Stone^tm is simply a remote power on/off switch you will want your computer to automatically go into the application you desire upon boot up. Your home computer may not be setup to do this, some careful thought will be needed on your part to make sure the computers configuation are set up properly to run your applications. The Power Stone^tm will switch your power on, but you'll need that software configuration to make things work.

In some instances the RPS unit operates a multiple electric socket strip (one of those Curtiss Safe- Strips). From the Safe-Strip you would plugged in the Computer AND Modem (just in case something happens with the modem...). The Power Stone^tm is on a private number with a answering machine. (You "DO NOT" need an answering machine for operation!). As the instructions say you'll need a quiet section of tape to hear the Power Stone^tm beeps when using an answering machine. On a typical answering machine you may have the option of listening to the 'room noise' (basically listen through the answering machine microphone to hear what is going on in the room...) or just leave yourself a message consisting of the codes necessary to operate the RPS II Unit.. You can easily hear the beeps to turn the power on/ off with the RPS. The unit will listen to the phone line even if it DOES NOT pick up the phone!

Some clients have the RPS on a different phone line from their computer/modem. You can run the Power Stone^tm on the same phone-line as your computer, if you take some precautions. Making the initial phone call to turn the computer/modem power on remotely should not be a problem. However, once you are done accessing your computer you will probably need to go through a couple of steps before ending your remote session. The key step would be, making sure your modem WILL NOT pick up the next phone call which will be you calling back to turn the computer off! Check your modem instructions and/or communications program for sending the correct codes to your modem before you log off your remote sessions. In most instances, and greatly depending on the modem and your phone configuration you maybe able to activate the RPS II Power Stone^tm unit through the squeal of the modem picking up the phone. You maybe able to easily alleviate this problem by using one of the Power Stone^tm automatic configurations to power the computer up during the phone call, and at the end of the session have the Power Stone^tm automatically power down the computer.

Usage has shown only one real activation problem with the unit. We had a client in a hotel room who dialed in to check on a modem based system. Well, the phone rang and rang, so they knew they had to reboot the system with the Power Stone^tm unit. They dialed up their trusty unit but darnit, the access codes just did not work! It would not respond to the command codes!

Well, after 5 calls we finally figured out what was going on. The hotels phone system was filtering the sound input going out the phone line. The # was not being interpreted correctly! A call from a pay phone to reboot the computer was all that was needed. Everything worked fine! Keep this in mind when you are out travelling!

Security? Anyone calling the number will have to know 1) there is a Power Stone^tm on the line, 2) the access code to turn the device on/off if the device is not set for automatic operation. The access code is configurable from the default values to a unique number you can chose.

There are other ways you will think of to use the unit successfully. We've typed up the above simply to get your thoughts going. It'll just take some trial and error on your part as you learn the many options and functions of the Power Stone^tm RPS II unit!