Programming Snapshot – Power Outages
Hard to believe but a sad reality: Even in major cities in the United States, power outages from one second to the next are not uncommon, whether because of the wild mess of overhead cables stretching between houses in the City of San Francisco (Figure 1) or because the electrical infrastructure of the substations is outdated and starting to crack under the strain. You should always expect the worst as a smart homeowner and implement strategies, just in case the power stops flowing for a few hours. Even if you live in a country with a more stable power supply, you will still appreciate the fail-safes introduced here. Then, if a shrewd burglar takes the precaution of removing a fuse before invading your privacy, they will definitely get a good scare when the alarm still goes off!
Figure 1: San Francisco: Supplying power through a bird's-nest of cables can lead to failure.
Emergency Power
In case of an outage, I want my key automation components, such as the controlling hub and its connection to the Internet – including the path thereto encompassing the router and cable or DSL modem – to continue working without electricity. If you limit yourself to keeping just a few essential components alive during a power outage, the consumption adds up to just a few watts; even a cheap battery-backed emergency power supply for less than $50 can keep this minimal infrastructure alive for a while.
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