GRSoftware GREmailRobot: email robot software application example

Here is an example of what one of opur customer did with our software GREmailRobot.

Basically the application was to remotely control a snowmelt system by email with the aid of a network device X-300 (From www.ControlbyWeb.com).

This device has two output relays. One of them has been connected to a Snowmelt system.

He used GREmailRobot to check a specific email account for specifically formatted emails. If the email contained the correct instruction in the SUBJECT line then it would run an external script. See the screen shot below:

 

 

Note: Obviously the special command, SNMP Community String, and IP Address were masked for privacy purposes.

The job then executes an external script (in this case a Windows batch file). This script requires another program called NET-SNMP, which is nothing more than a Windows command-line version of a SNMP READ/WRITE utility. (See script here)

 

@ECHO OFF

REM ********************************************

REM Parameter %1% runs the ON or OFF portion of the script

REM Parameter %2% is the SNMP Community String

REM Parameter %3% is the X-300 IP Address

REM ********************************************

Echo Processing script to turn snowmelt system %1%

Echo.

if "%1%"=="OFF" goto TURNOFF

if "%1%"=="ON" goto TURNON

Goto END

:TURNON

"C:\Program Files\NET-SNMP\bin\snmpset.exe" -v 1 -c %2% %3% 1.3.6.1.4.1.30586.10.12.0 s 1

Goto END

:TURNOFF

"C:\Program Files\NET-SNMP\bin\snmpset.exe" -v 1 -c %2% %3% 1.3.6.1.4.1.30586.10.12.0 s 0

:END

 

He then used an SNMP network monitoring program to monitor the status of this device so it reports that the device is ON or OFF. Kind of a patched together

grouping of three programs, but it is really flexible.

Admittedly there are other ways to accomplish this, such as a Home Automation Voice Response. However this person didn't want a phone line at the building and found sending an email required less time than a phone call

Therefore so long as you can launch some other process, the options are limitless. 

This project is focused on sending SNMP commands to reprogram or reboot various network devices, or sending commands into our Network Monitoring system to activate or deactivate various monitoring tasks.

Here you see the final result:

 

The heat is carried in a pipe in the cement using heated anti-freeze. It's actually more of a glycol product and not the same as what goes in a car. It is safer that way. If leaked into the ground it wouldn't hurt anything. The cement is on top of 2 inches of rigid foam which keeps the heat from going into the ground.

Because this home already had a different heating system, a BOSCH Aquastar 240FX Tankless Water Heater was used in place of the more common boiler
style system.

 

The user's ultimate solution was to use the water heater for the home's domestic hot-water and the driveway snowmelt by using two pumps and a heat-exchanger. This design has made it extremely reliable and protects the water heater from the extreme cold of the anti-freeze when the system is first turned on. The following picture should clarify the system: