Recently, I stumbled upon an interesting discussion about managing power outages with Node-RED and Hubitat. The idea is to automatically shut down and restart the Hubitat hub during power outages, ensuring seamless operation of smart home devices. I thought it would be a great topic to explore and share my experiences with the community.
Background
I have been looking for a reliable way to handle power outages in my smart home setup. My hub and internet equipment are backed by UPS, but they only last about 30-90 minutes. While I can shut down the hub using Ring Range Extender, restarting it when power returns has always been a challenge. This led me to explore the Kasa (TP-Link) plug solution mentioned in the Node-RED forum.
Hubitat Power Outage Management Flow
The flow involves periodically pinging devices not connected to a UPS to detect power outages. If a power failure is detected, the hub is shut down. When power returns, the hub is restarted automatically. This ensures that my smart home devices remain functional without manual intervention.
Flow Logic
- Detecting Power Outage: The flow pings two devices not connected to a UPS. If both devices fail to respond, it assumes a power outage and shuts down the hub.
- Restarting the Hub: Once power is restored, the flow pings the hub. If it doesn’t respond, the Kasa plug is used to restart it.
- Miscellaneous Logic: The flow also handles maintenance tasks and ensures other scheduled processes don’t interfere with the outage management.
Prerequisites
- At least two IP devices with static IPs not connected to a UPS.
- Hubitat hub with a static IP.
- Kasa HS105 wifi plug for controlling the hub restart.
- UPS for the hub, Node-RED server, and router.
- Pushover account for notifications.
Node-RED Components
- Standard Nodes: Inject, ping, switch, link-in, etc.
- Extra Nodes: Simple-gate for suspending flows during maintenance, credentials for secure login, and tplink for controlling the Kasa plug.
My Experience
I implemented this solution and found it to be quite effective. However, I noticed that the flow could be simplified further. For instance, using a single device for initial detection might reduce complexity without compromising reliability. I also wonder if there are alternative plugins or methods to achieve the same result more efficiently.
Questions and Suggestions
- How can we improve the flow’s reliability during extended power outages?
- Are there other devices or plugins that can replace the Kasa plug for better integration?
- How can we ensure the flow doesn’t interfere with other scheduled tasks or automations?
If anyone has suggestions for simplifying or improving this setup, please share your insights. I believe this solution could be valuable for others facing similar challenges.
Feel free to PM me for the actual flow files, though I’ll need to clean up some network information first. I hope this helps someone on their smart home journey!
Best regards,
[Your Name]