

Ask HN: cheap way to control voltage wirelessly - dhbradshaw

There are a lot of knobs that can be turned by controling the voltage on an input in real time.  In my field, people usually who want to do this just buy whatever National Instruments is selling for $1500.  It's expensive and involves a mess of wires, but it works.<p>Does anyone here know of a cheap way or two to wirelessly control a voltage (say from a netbook or phone)?  Cheap here means in the $1-$25 range.
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CyberFonic
Easy, get a PIC, Atmel, Aduino, etc microcontroller. Interface it to a WiFi
USB key and write a bit of code. A lazy weekend's work for a Real Hacker.

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pcarmichael
I'm pretty sure that's going to exceed the $25 budget.

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mbenjaminsmith
Not the cheapest but probably the simplest way would be to use an inexpensive
router. The dd-wrt capable variety give you linux and a serial port for under
100$. There are tons of ways you could glue a potentiometer to a serial port.

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pcarmichael
It might help to be more specific - what kind of voltage are you looking to
control? AC, DC, or both? High voltages or low voltages? High current or low
current? Is the load reactive or resistive?

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dhbradshaw
Sure. I want to remotely run a small motor off of a battery pack. Ideally, the
wireless portion would be small and low power.

