DIY- Battery Backup Hubitat- under TEN bucks-NO soldering

Should be able to get a couple of days out of mine then.

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Bought one of these single battery versions. Works treat had to make a custom box for it so put some plugs into it. It’s not pretty but it’s out the way and works :grinning:

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Mine is going on 18 months continuous use, on 2 hubs. Had maybe 1 or 2 powerline blips, and these little cheap gadgets, kept my hubs from crashing. Haven't tried on the C7 yet, but would expect the same or better runtime on battery (6-8hrs)

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Mine has been running for many months as well. Had to redo the connections from my C4 to C7 conversion.

One note on "cheap" (not to be argumentative but to make those not familiar with circuits think better of this device).

Yes they cost little. However the design and part choice are very well executed. That is except for the micro usb connector.

The board includes standard IC's or components for the following functions:

  1. Reverse input protection
  2. Control of charging current
  3. Protection against over charging or draining below a safe level
  4. Boost from 3.7V to 5.0V
  5. Drop from 3.7 to 3.3V

The board does does not include a battery ($$) so the user gets to choose the quality of the battery used.

All in all it is a pretty robust device. I've accidently shorted the 5V output. The board shut down with little complaint. With the short removed the board came back to life with no damage done.

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Yes, I concur. My micro USB also broke off. I think because there is zero support for the connector. The 3d printed case adds some support around the connector, and any gaps I filled with funtak. Pretty hacky, I know. Could have used hot glue, like in all the foreign electronics project videos on YT

I broke one of mine off too - I put it back on with a dab of super glue and resoldered it. Works great and is much stronger now.

Btw I updated my how to guide to use HTTP Sensor for those that want to auto detect and shutdown their Hubitat in a long duration power outage.

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I'm curious why people are so concerned about shutting down the hub vs it just turning off if the UPS just dies?

The hub is just a computer, and it's basically the same reason you'd politely shut down a desktop, laptop, or server instead of just pulling power--it gives things time to exit gracefully and avoids potential data loss. Like other modern computers, Hubitat is still fairly resilient in this regard, but Support has told us that in some cases, simply pulling power can cause database corruption (and the only fix is to restore from a last known good copy, which the hub will do for you automatically on boot if it detects a problem, but that could be up to a day old). So, best to just do it the recommended way: Settings > Shutdown if you're doing it manually, or the equivalent HTTP commands if you're trying to automate it as above.

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then pop an ikea rechargeable battery which in an unbranded Eneloop Pro

Happened to me yesterday. The connector is held on by a couple of solder points on the connector case. The soldering on these things aren't the best so all it takes is a quick reheat of the tabs and it's good.

I read somewhere here (can't recall which post) about doa units. One of mine was the same, pressing down on one of the components brought it to life (easily fixed) so as I said the soldering isn't the best.

I'm sure you know if you've watched any youtube electronics videos. These overseas tinkerers use hot glue for EVERYTHING. I reinforced the connector on my zooz ZSE-01 with JB Weld plastic epoxy, it's never coming off, hopefully I'll never need to get at the solder joints

I just added an on/off switch to my $10 UPS just so those times I want to power the hub off I don't have to deal with the µUSB.

As bertabcd1234 said but maybe more simply.

If the controller is writing command to its database at the time the power is removed, the database will only contain part of the command.

When you reboot, the hub will read the partial command as an error. Fixing this error usually takes restoring an earlier database (backup).

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Incorrect voltage on the eneloop, the 18650 is 3.7 volts per cell. They typically charge up to 4.2 volts. The size is also too small, an 18650 is 18mm x 65mm, hence the designation 18 65 0.

But I have and like the Ikea Ladda batteries, great bargain

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Waiting on components. Already have the batteries.
Thanks for this little project.

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Before I found this thread I went down the Raspberry Pi UPS hat route and use a dual 18650 battery UPS hat powering and protecting my two HE hubs. The hat is not connected to a Pi, but if it was it apparently provides battery status information. Total cost was about £20, so more than the solution here, but ready made and reliable for me.

@chirpy

UK here too. Could you give more info/links please? I'd like to add ups to my hub, router and switches, but their locations are spread around the house. So cost is an issue.

Looks like the one I got has gone up £5 since I bought it. I already had a couple of 18650's:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Uninterruptible-Battery-Management-Expansion-As-Shown/dp/B082KJJMP2

layman's terms - I need a Pi too? Or can I just buy that and a couple of batteries, and I can power my stuff? Ta.

No need for a Pi at all. That plus two 18650 batteries. I power 2 hubs from the two USB-A ports and the UPS is powered from the micro-USB port on the underside.

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