I’m starting to use Homey as a alarm system as well. Within my fuse box I have a UPS powering the router, accesspoint, etc. Homey is the central hub for all devices and I want it to keep working in case of a power failure as well. All alarm nodes are mainly battery powered anyway.
My idea is to buy a powerbank and have it always plugged in. The powerbank output will then be connected to homey… and instant cheap UPS function would be added.
But will that work? Are there any requirements to the powerbank? I don’t want to blow up my homey until backup and restore is in place
I would still have a problem with the Z-Wave repeaters. I currently use the fibaro wall sockets simply to create a more extended Z-Wave network, I don’t have anything plugged into them, but in case of power failure those will no longer work so half of the devices will become unavailable, but figuring that out would be part two of the plan.
Powerbanks are typically not designed to be charged while drained. Those that are designed to handle charge while being drained still have a few problems.
The first problem is that they might cut off the power to your Homey once in a while, and especially often when the currents breaks - something that is not a problem for a phone being charged but results in a reset of your Homey.
The second problem is that they might get overheated as the battery cells never gets to chill (easily explained).
In the best case you save some money from not buying a proper UPS. In the worst case you burn down your house.
Thanks all for the quick responses and good advice. It would have been a cheap and mainly small UPS alternative, would it have possible in a safe way. Think I’ll move homey to the fuse box as well and hook it up to the UPS already in place there. Tnx!
Have used this one https://www.amazon.de/dp/B072N2KCBY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_vNFVBbSVNGE8J for more than half a year - always connected to the charger and Homey plugged-in to the powerbank - works absolutely flawless - can unplug the powerbank without any influence on Homey…
Seems to be exactly what I was looking for cbh. But I’m a bit afraid now cause of the “powerbank is not made for this and could burn down your house” idea. Does your powerbank get hot at all powering homey 24/7?
Ambient temperature - unless during “real charging” (when AC is re-connected after being disconnected for a while with Homey still running - but that’s expected behavior :-))
@Pizzaking, the link is not working, but I googled the content and found an interesting device indeed, only the reviews are not that good. Cbh has this working with homey for about half a year, it’s cheap and proven to work so I’ll give it a try. Tnx for the help!
I had a RAV-power power-bank too like @cbh. A different version but it worked perfectly until suddenly it just broke down after 7-9 months.
The version I had was replaced as warranty but with a different type. That did not work like a UPS. Like most power banks it has a millisecond or 2 drop before switching from charging too supplying power.
Those few milliseconds are too much for homey, it just restarts.
I’m still looking for a good replacement… I hope someone has a proven version that will be < 66 euros.
Im currently using this power supply https://www.meanwell.com/webapp/product/search.aspx?prod=ADD-155 that is build in small rack together with modem, switch and NAS.
I do have modem, Wifi router, NAS, Homey, wall tablet and Ikea hub at the same place and all of them are being powered by this power supply. Additional benefit of it, is power backup attached battery (Im using sealed 12V/6Ah battery) connected to this power supply directly.
End result:
no UPS needed (2 hours without power tested yesterday and it still was running, can be extended with bigger battery).
stable power supply for USB devices (total 3A) and 12V powered devices (max 12A) = no need of 6 standalone power supplies.
smaller overall consumption (compared to previous setup - 20%).
Only benifit I actually see in above diy ups is possible increase in efficiency as you do not use 4 or so adapters rather one bigger. Other from that small brick ups like bu600e stars from 50eur.
Yes, but small 50€ UPS you mentioned will last max 40 minutes in my setup (50W load). Had this solution before with APC UPS and after 2 years it was KO (electronic) and also battery from it was unusable.
With 12Ah battery for 30€ I do get 3 times longer operation. And additional benefit not mentioned above is rock solid power output from certified power supply.
