I'm looking for other Hub users experience with Power Loss. Lately we've had some nuisance power losses, in the order of 2 - 5 minutes maybe as hi as 30 minutes. I've also experienced some strange
Hub issues. Often the issues are on Rules we seldom use so I don't know if updates or other changes effected these rules or power loss was the source.
So I'm asking for "a show of hands" of those who have had issues due to power loss. My thought is if the reply is "Yes I've had power loss issues" from a lot of folks it will give all of us all a feeling for how power loss should be handled.
Thanks
John
Have you considered putting your hub on a UPS?
Here's my setup. I have my hub on an APC UPS that is monitored by apcupsd running on my Odroid. When power is at 10%, I run a shell script that uses curl to shutdown the Hubitat Elevation.
It is moderately graceful and prevent Hubitat database corruption.
Edit: my HE has not been affected by power loss. However, the few posts I've seen about database corruption prompted me to come up with an ad hoc solution.
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Any rule that schedules anything may not work after a reboot. Also anything that should have been scheduled during the power failure may not work until the next day. It gets very screwy with anything scheduled around sunset and sunrise since the schedule schedules those events happening before sunrise tomorrow at sunrise today. I had a similar question about a DB restore which caused similar issues so I think it would still apply here.
Bottom line, if the hub isn't on 24/7, scheduled things might now work for 24 hours. The only way around that is to go into the rules and hit "done" to update them.
I am considering a UPC which prompted my question. My hub is not near my computer and all the UPC's I've found are an extreme overkill. I've looked at some cheap Chinese UPC boards with 5V output, however I would prefer not to connect one of these cheap boards directly to my Hub.
I do make backups regularly, before an update and after any significant changes, so I'm not likely to loose much. Hence, I'm on the fence regarding a UPS.
I have my cable modem, primary WiFi puck, switch, fingbox, Odroid, and HE on a single UPS. I do make nightly offline backups.
The UPS also provides conditioned power. Kind of important to me because there's a moderate number of lightning strikes where I live. Not as much as Florida though.
I find that determining what / which UPS to buy very difficult. Some need to be reset to AC power, some at automatic. Some are very expensive for what you get. Maybe we need a thread on options and what works for a reasonable price. Along with that, options for small units that will charge and provide power at the same time, for multiple hub scenarios where they are not close to each other.
I have experienced several power loss issues but not with the hub because it has backup power. My issues stem from the various repeaters plugged in around the house. If devices are routed through those repeaters and there is a power outage, devices routed through it fail, at least in the short term. After several minutes most of these devices recover but for anyone using their HA for security this is not a good thing when relying on door sensors, motion sensors, etc. This isn't a problem with the HE hub but its inherent problem with zigbee. Not sure about zwave as I have no devices that are critical during power outages. I wish there was a way to assign critical devices to not route through repeaters. Putting all the repeaters on a UPS just isn't practical.
I have an APC450 in the cellar with a dead battery. The replacement battery is only $25 but it is big and bulky and not able to be located near my Hub (which is located for signal optimization).
I may just break down and make a small UPC using 4 x AA lithium (not chargable) and the best DC-DC converter I can find.
As for the repeaters, for my usage I don't care. My only interest is not having the HUB become corrupted.
I've seen (some time ago) a few phone backup supplies (my wife carries one in her purse) that claim to charge and provide power at the same time. I will be looking for one of those hoping to find a good quality one.
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This would do the trick:
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I have several versions of the Omnicharge line that definitely do this. They are unfortunately prohibitively expensive. Check Amazon for them if you're curious. Omni has a number of models, including some with add on batteries and AC output ports, even some with Qi wireless charging.
S.
That's 12 VDC. The HE is 5 VDC, isn't it?
It has a 5vdc USB output port too.
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It has a USB A connector as well for 5v. You would also need to have the USB to barrel adapter if you need to power a C3 or C4 hub. The C5 could use a standard micro usb cable.
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I keep seeing this linked and always think "I need to order some of those".
One day, I will.
S.
I use one to provide battery backup for 2 of my Nodemcu's using the barrel connector and one wemos d1 using the usb. Works like a charm. I planned to get one for my modem but realized I had to many other items close by and just went with an APC unit in that closet instead.
Keep in mind that the battery does NOT come with the 12v power adapter that is need to power and charge it.
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I previously had to power cycle the hub because it became non responsive. Any DC UPS that will still allow me to do so?
If you are power cycling by switching off the mains power... then NO.
The function I'm looking for is continuous power when the mains goes off, this would preclude power cycling by switching the mains.
I have been lucky in that I've not had to cycle power since I've had my Hub (one of the early C4's). Well
... except once when I was updating the firmware.
Any UPS script I can run on a RPI that will shutdown the Hubitat Hub when needed?
