Keeping Your Smart Home Alive With A UPS

A Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is a battery backup that takes over when mains power fails and protects equipment from sudden outages, surges, sags and spikes. A UPS is especially useful to keep smart homes working in the event of a power cut. This article has everything you need to know about using a UPS with a smart home.

Types of UPS

1. Standby (Offline): The cheapest type of UPS that switches over (in the event of a power cut) to supplying power to smart home devices connected to it. Basic protection, ideal for routers and smart home hubs and gateways
2. Line Interactive: Offers automatic voltage regulation (AVR), better handling of brownouts and surges. Costs are mid-range
3. Online (Double‑Conversion): Delivers clean, continual power with no transfer time. Best for servers or power sensitive hardware. Expensive and an overkill for a smart home system

UPS Pros and Cons

• Pros:
  • Provides instant power backup to keep smart homes running
  • Protects against voltage issues and power surges
  • Automatically switch on and off depending if mains power is available or not
    
    
• Cons:
  • Limited runtime – The amount of time devices can be powered depends on electric draw and battery size
  • Batteries degrade and need replacing every 3 to 5 years. Some cheaper UPS models the battery can’t be replaced and a new UPS has to be purchased
  • A UPS (even a small one) is a fairly bulky piece of equipment

Setting Up a UPS

1. Choose Smart Devices to Protect

Focus on critical gear: Internet router, smart home hubs, network switches. Basically all equipment that is required to get an internet connection and the smart home hub(s) that the smart devices connect to. Obviously battery powered smart devices do not need a UPS.

2. Calculate Your Load

Obtain all device power ratings (Watts or VA) and add 20%. Buy a suitable UPS that provides sufficient power. The UPS required will probably be quite small if just powering a smart hub and internet router.

3. Estimate Runtime

See the table further down to get some idea on runtimes. There are tools online that will help workout runtime. I’d recommend going for a runtime of at least 30 minutes. 

4. Install and Monitor

There’s not much to installing a basic UPS. Basically, plug the UPS into a mains socket and plug all the devices you want to have backup power into the UPS

Some UPSs have IEC C13 and C14 power connectors aka ‘kettle leads’. But you can buy UPSs that have standard wall sockets

Some UPSs can connect to a hub or PC to send alerts (e.g. email saying power has been lost) and for reporting.

Estimated Runtime for Smart Hub & Router

Summary

Using a UPS improves your smart home’s resilience, keeping key systems live during power interruptions and protecting against voltage issues. Choose the right UPS type, size it properly, set up monitoring and automation, and maintain batteries to ensure reliable backup power.