Seon is going to be making the WOPR clock again soon! ![]()
Sweet, I registered my interest a while back so hopefully it won't be long. Thanks for the heads up!
No worries.
I might have to get another one. ![]()
Just watched the replay (6am was simply too hard). Looks like it should be available in another week or 2 with a couple of enhancements.
I haven't actually watched it yet, what are the enhancements?
Moving all the buttons to the front and rearranging the breakout pins. Wasn't sure if there were more cos I skipped the kicad parts 
Anyway let's hope he ordered enough parts to satisfy demand (around 106 kits are being made apparently)
Hi @Rxich ,
I found a PiPower unit in my office today and was looking for what to do with it,
Searched this forum and found your reply.
So, is it safe to use this PiPower with my C8 hub? Can it be charged when connected to the hub?
Mine came with no butteries included, what batteries are you using?
HAHAHA, this is so funny, as not 2 days ago I found an old Pi-power on my desk. I placed 2 Panasonic 18650's in it(about 3400mAh each cell) and hooked it up to my C8. Been running perfect. The only problem is my hub is at the top of my loft beams, and I need a ladder to reach it, so when I shut down yesterday I had to get a ladder to pull power to restart the hub. To remedy this I added a Sonoff USB/wifi power switch to flip power remotely.
TLDR- Yes ! it works perfectly fine and I'm buying another. The hub consumes miniscule amounts of power and the batteries below will run it for likely a full 24 hours
You can get this Sanyo or Panasonic, I believe they are both made by the same mfg.
Although I like the Sinilink one better, and you can flash Tasmota and no need to use an app to control it, with the Sonoff you need EwElink app
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800604905698.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.12.3e71180218WqC7&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
Update I see an even larger one that uses 21700 cells for an even longer runtime. I have not tested the unit yet, but I'm thinking of trying it out.
Update, they now sell the PiPower with batteries included, for the same price. However I doubt they are anywhere near as powerful as the Panasonic/Sanyo cells I listed above. Going to try to find an older unit where I can supply the cells.
FYI, my PiPower is actually charging from POE using a convertor, much less wires/plugs/mess.
Here are 2 units verified to work.
The first one holds 18650 cells
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801363987333.html?spm=a2g0o.pay_result.pcSmartCardPaySuccess.3.730e3474b2rpuM&gps-id=pcSmartCardPaySuccess&scm=1007.10668.131923.0&scm_id=1007.10668.131923.0&scm-url=1007.10668.131923.0&pvid=635234be-63ac-4b87-8a7c-cbec7a8cefa0&_t=gps-id:pcSmartCardPaySuccess,scm-url:1007.10668.131923.0,pvid:635234be-63ac-4b87-8a7c-cbec7a8cefa0,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238114%231999&pdp_npi=4%40dis!USD!19.65!19.65!!!19.65!19.65!%402101c5ac17138048594885664e1711!12000037389751406!rec!US!712076553!&utparam-url=scene%3ApcSmartCardPaySuccess|query_from%3A
This one, is higher capacity. It takes 21700 cells for a much longer runtime. I am currently using it and it works very well
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805914089508.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.3c271802QM8iZB&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
1 Does the Pi-power need to be connected to a Raspberry Pi for it to work as a HE UPS or can this work stand alone?
2 Is there a case I could put Pi-power in?
3 Is the Pi-power plug and play or do I need to program/configure it?
Thanks!!
No need to connected to a pi, and there are plenty of cases to be 3d printed. It comes with a plexiglass bottom to shield the electronics and zero programming is necessary
Most of us (should) already use a quality UPS but to add a layer of 5v stability, is it possible to simply lay a 1000uf electrolytic across the Hubitat power? I learned electronics way back but didn't really pay attention to theory (yes pothead).
Capacitors hold a charge and I'm suggesting for the few milliseconds a UPS bump has caused my Hubitat to reset. Thanks community
Try this one. I use them around. It does pass through power while charging and so far, it works like a charm. Just make sure you pick the right output voltage of 5, 9, or 12vdc outputs. Just use a couple of laptop rescued 18650 cells. Uses the c connector. Only solder on the output lead you need. 5mm barrel male or female, type c, micro, or just plain wires to solder to something to it directly.
It is advertised as a 5v-9v-12v ups battery backup.
Just a thought
Update: Testing results!
Ok, I used a 1 amp USB charger connected with USB c cable to the UPS device.
I used one half charged 18650 rescued from old laptop battery.
I plugged it into the charger (with USB c cable) and plugged it into the Hubitat C-7 (with usb micro cable).
Hub starts fine. I removed the USB c charger cable from the device.
Device does not glitch and the hub remains on and functioning.
(I tried so many battery packs) But they all did the same things.
Problem one:
Most battery packs can not charge while charging.
Problem two:
Packs that can provide power while charging has another problem. With the hub plugged into the device, if you remove the battery charging cable (USB c) the hub reboots because in most battery packs (like most name brand AC ups's) actually pass power through it to power the load and also charges but when the ups loses power there is a glitch in the output power because the USP has to turn on the inverter inside the ups or battery pack.
That is where this device shines! I believe it actually works like this. The device actually powers the load all the time and if the USB c cable has power, it also charges the battery and the output circuits are always on so no glitch & Output power stays steady!
Problem three: almost all the packs I tried, it is hit or miss on if the battery pack can stay on on the output. Yep, the Hubitat hub draws so little power that the battery packs turn off the pack and the hub.
Now, I am using them for everything I can
My wifi mesh routers need 5v @ 3a to connect to the Internet and to pair with the other mesh routers. They just keep flashing on most of my packs and only 2 would power the mesh routers.
So, 5v @ 3a. = 15w
9v @ 1.6a. = 15w
12v @ 1.25a = 15w
As long as your power needs fall within these values, your good to go!
I have some with one cell (3000mah) and I have some with two 3000mah cells.
One pack, I added a 3 piece 18650 holder so now it has 5 cells @ 3000mah.
If I need more or less runtime, I just adjust the amount of 18650 cells. Easy piesy. Oh, and on another device, I glued a 5v and 12v device together for where my Hubitat hub and Mesh router are placed. I added a 2 foot USB c cable on the 12v side and a 2 foot USB micro cable on the 5v device. With this setup, I connected the battery posts together. Now that is four cells to power both devices. This way, you only use one USB c cable to charge the pack with two output powers.
Well, I hope this explains the devices well enough. I looked for something like this for a long time and I felt it was a good device to use.
The only "con" would be that there is no power switch to turn off the power from the batteries down off.
You "can" add switch's to the outputs, but the devices would still run the batteries down.
Seriously though, I have never found a device that works so well. I had a home brewed one. It was a little USB li-ion one cell charger (c or micro). Then hook the battery holder to it. Then a boost board to make 5v or 12v on the output depending on project. For the price, this device seems to fit the bill.
Piece!
Was there supposed to be a link?
Yep. Sorry about that.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D4TVRJ54?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
See if that works
I'll just throw this out there, if I haven't already. ![]()
I discovered with my TalentCell battery, which works great, that it can't be constantly charged at 100% without losing life, so I have a rule that exercises it. It crapped out when I needed it during a power outage was the way I found out.
The problem is, suppliers want to max out the capacity for advertising purposes. However at max capacity the life drops. For max life the cells should not be charged much more that 85%, however all the charging chips charge to 4.2 volts which is max capacity.
However the LTC4040 charging IC, which is too expensive for the low cost Amazon/ebay UPS's will allow charging before max capacity. Read the unit @dJOS put together earlier in this thread.
Hi. @velvetfoot
I agree. We do need stable (regulated) power available.
One thing I did was on my one power plug (third reality with power monitoring). They can be chatty under default settings but it can be throttle back. So, my power plug turns on my charger. I monitor the battery voltage and when the battery is only taking about 20w, I have a rule that shuts the charger off. This way, my batteries last a lot longer even though they are rescued cells.
With the ups I use above, the charging cable can be plugged into a USB zigbee switch and the power use can be monitored and used ASAP rule to turn the USB charging on and off based on wattage. I also use a rule to turn on charging when the battery is at ~85%
Paul
Currently installing with ALL hubitat hubs something similar to this
https://www.amazon.com/Uninterruptible-10400mah-Switch-Backup-Supply/dp/B0F7G7ZLWJ
Or this (Looks Romania-specific) https://www.dedeman.ro/ro/ups-well-dc-hale18-wl-18w-5v/9v/12v-poe-15v/24v-usb/p/1083756
Generally $35 and it held out for 5ish hours with my office hub (~30-40 devices)