I recently stumbled upon a clever way to monitor power outages in my home, and I wanted to share my experience in case it helps others. The setup is surprisingly simple yet effective, and I’d love to hear if anyone else has tried something similar or has tips to improve it.
I’ve been experimenting with using a Raspberry Pi to ping a USB-powered ESP8266 that’s plugged into my garage circuit. The idea is straightforward: if the ESP8266 goes offline, it means the power has gone out on that circuit. This could be incredibly useful for monitoring essential appliances like a freezer or even my Hubitat hub, which I keep on a UPS. The best part? It doesn’t require any new coding—just a bit of setup with Hubitat and a handy driver.
I’ve been using @jwetzel1492’s iPhone WiFi Presence Sensor driver to check if the ESP8266 is still online. It works like a charm! I named my device “Garage Power,” and now I get notifications if it goes offline. The driver even lets me set a timeout to avoid false alarms during router reboots. This has been a game-changer for me, and I can’t recommend it enough.
For those interested, I’d love to hear what other devices or methods people use for power outage detection. Do you have a favorite smart outlet or sensor that you’ve had success with? Let’s share tips and tricks to make our homes smarter and more resilient!
Happy tinkering! 