Weather Display scheduled self-shutdown option?

[steve_p]

Windy:

Unless I'm mistaken, there's no option in WD to schedule it's own shutdown.

E.g. As part of my quest for enegy-efficiency, I'd like to be able to get Weather Display to turn itself off ("save and exit") say at 12.30am - after clientrawdaily is produced - use a third-party tool to put the PC into sleep, use the PC's BIOS "Wake On Time" feature to automatically boot up in the morning and then run a script to relaunch WD.

I know I could just write a "taskkill" batch file - but this seems an unneccesarily brutal - not to mention risky - way to get WD to close.

I've no interest in keeping the PC running overnight - since I can retrieve the console's overnight data in the morning.

Thanks,

Steve

[skyewright]

I've no interest in keeping the PC running overnight - since I can retrieve the console's overnight data in the morning.

Obviously I'm not windy, but I have been doing this for ages...

I used to simply use "Timed Shutdown" http://tinnes.org.uk/ to shut down the whole computer at 25 minutes past midnight (chosen as a time when change of day should have had plenty of time, and when no uploads were due).

That worked fine. I used that for  months and never had a data problem because of the shutdown.
I did take the precaution of asking Brian first, and he thought it ought to be okay too.

Then, for other reasons, I started using Splinterware System Scheduler
http://www.splinterware.com/products/wincron.htm
 for various tasks, and noticed that I could manage something more elegant...
I now have a System Scheduler "Window Watcher" Event that at fires at 0025. If at that time WD is running, the event waits an extra 5 seconds (arbitrary, but there to allow 'on the minute' stuff) then does [Ctrl][E], [Down], [Enter] (i.e. select the Exit menu, then choose and invoke "Save and Exit"). The code I use to achieve that is {WAIT=15000}%E{DOWN}{ENTER}.

A minute later "Timed Shutdown" turns off the computer[1].

How's that?

[1] The "Professional" version of System Scheduler could do the shutdown itself, but on the Weather PC I just use the free variant.

[steve_p]

Then, for other reasons, I started using Splinterware System Scheduler
http://www.splinterware.com/products/wincron.htm
 for various tasks, and noticed that I could manage something more elegant...
I now have a System Scheduler "Window Watcher" Event that at fires at 0025. If at that time WD is running, the event waits an extra 5 seconds (arbitrary, but there to allow 'on the minute' stuff) then does [Ctrl][E], [Down], [Enter] (i.e. select the Exit menu, then choose and invoke "Save and Exit"). The code I use to achieve that is {WAIT=15000}%E{DOWN}{ENTER}.

Skyewright: Many thanks for this. Splinterware definitely sounds worth investigating. I'll check it out. Presumably it needs the WD window to be on the desktop (I usually run it in the system tray)?

My not wanting to run the (ageing) computer 24 hours a day is a recent thing: I've been doing just that for the last 3 and a half years (thanks to WD). But an unrecoverable hard-disk crash last week  - and the inexorable rise in electricity costs - has forced a review of that approach...

Cheers,
Steve

[broadstairs]

Although I understand your reasoning for energy efficiency, it is more likely to create problems with hard drives by turning them off and on, although doing this only once each day is not a huge increase in risk. If your hard drives are SMART capable then monitor them for problems because many problems do show up in the SMART data before they actually fail.

Also using your wake-up in BIOS means that your PC will still be drawing power while 'off' so if you have access to a power monitor it might be worth checking to see what it draws while 'off', it wont be zero and it might just surprise you.

If your BIOS has an option to turn-on when power comes back then to get round this you could use a time switch to completely turn off the power after you shutdown and when it comes back in the morning then your PC reboots when it senses the power switched back on. Even a time switch will draw power but I woud guess less than the average PC when 'off'.

As with anything like this YMMV....

Stuart

[steve_p]

Even a time switch will draw power but I woud guess less than the average PC when 'off'.

Yes, I had intended to do this too. Ditto for the attached router and even the 2300 console - which I reckon can survive happily on battery power overnight.

The PC in question - a 6 year old Thinkpad running as a dedicated WD/webserver/network attached storage/print & media server - is not SMART compliant and I'm keen to give it an occasional "rest". I'm fairly sure IBM didn't design it with 24 hour webserver duties in mind. It's done pretty well so far, but this *is* only, ahem, a hobby (viewed with continually varying degrees of incredulity from "her indoors") and I don't want to replace it yet (the computer, that is)...

So, whilst I'm trying not to get too obsessed by the energy efficiency implications (which may indeed be negligable), I turn my TV (completely) off at night and would quite like to do the same with the PC. (And, so far as I can tell, no-one ever bothers to visit my website in the middle of the night, anyway...)

Cheers,
Steve

[niko]

As others have said this is easily done with readily available utilities. I use a windows macro program (Macro Scheduler, but you could use Auto-It) and a free power down utility to shut WD and the PC down when the UPS battery reaches a critical level. It doesn't care whether the window is maximised or in the tray, the WD window is there and will open up when you set focus on it. My routine follows the regular Exit, Save and Exit process, waits a short time, checks that the WD process has stopped and if not kills the process, then it shuts the power down.

I do agree with Stuart and suggest you buy or borrow a power meter and evaluate the return of your various power saving strategies.

[skyewright]

Skyewright: Many thanks for this. Splinterware definitely sounds worth investigating. I'll check it out. Presumably it needs the WD window to be on the desktop (I usually run it in the system tray)?

Maybe? I suspect that it would grab focus automatically (as niko mentions), but I don't know for sure. You'll soon find out if you give it a try.
For years I used to just use MS Scheduler for various timed stuff. I'd heard of Splinterware, but never tried it. Now because of features like the Window Watcher and the ability to send key presses I'm a convert.
On the Weather PC the free version does everything I want. On my main PC I've forked out for the Professional version which has even more features and was well worth the $30. 

[steve_p]

Thanks again for the suggestions!

But as some light relief, here's some (possibly spurious) figures illustrating why getting Brian to add scheduled shut-down functionaliy - and it getting used - could help save the world...

Guessing around 5000 world-wide registered copies of WD running on machines each consuming 100w 24 hours a day @ UK£0.15 KWh = annual total "WD" electricity consumption of 4.38MWh or UK£65,700 a year.

Using 1994 figures (from http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/EandE/Web_sites/01-02/RE_info/C02.htm) for CO2 output per kWh from UK coal-fired power stations @ 970g per kWh we get 424,860Kg of CO2.

Ergo: We all automatically turn off WD for 6 hours a day and reduce the planet's CO2 levels by 100,000kg - a year...

If this doesn't guilt-trip Brian into action he might alternately consider using the threat of adding this feature to encourage sponsorship from the UK/NZ power companies...

Cheers again,
Steve

[niko]

[Bashy]

Windy:
I've no interest in keeping the PC running overnight - since I can retrieve the console's overnight data in the morning.

Do you not update your site through the night then? Is your site data only part time?

[steve_p]

Do you not update your site through the night then? Is your site data only part time?

It currently updates 24 hours a day. I'm considering taking the website off-line for the hours I intend my PC to be switched off (say 12:30 to 06:30) and then "catching-up" with the overnight data - which would be stored in and can be retrieved from the Ws2300's built-in data-logger - when the machine "wakes" in the morning.