Embedded Lab

Does your router go wonky once every few days and require manual resetting? I know my old router did that quite a bit. Taylor Burley writes about his wireless reset button that will allow you to reset your router and modem from any room with just a click of the button.

Wireless reset button for your home router

A 555 timer in monostable mode and a hacked door bell were the only things really needed to build this reset. Keep in mind that since I used a powerstrip this device can be adapted to any ac device, within the limits of the relay. I tried to make this project a few different ways before hitting the perfect design. When you hit the button on the doorbell transmiter it sends a signal to the receiver and instead of playing that lovely doorbell tune, the signal that would go to the speaker is rerouted to a transistor that once activated will close pin two of the timer to ground which will then start the monostable pulse. The pulse is 30 secods long, the suggested time for routers and modems, the output of the timer goes to another transistor that will close the relay to ground, once the relay meets ground the coil will charge which will break the contact for the duration of the pulse, then reset after. I ran the ACpower strips live wire through the common pin and normally closed pin on the relay, this way the power is being supplied until the timer is activated. The router and modem are plugged into the power strip. This was the easiest option, instead of cutting into the power supplies for the modem and router. Which, I did a few times. But ended up using the strip for simplicity.