If what you recall is from 10 years ago it may be correct. PFC power supplies had problems with approximated sinewave. But modern ones don't. And your PC doesn't have one if you don't know what PFC means. And other systems can have problems only if they are inductive. Regarding the price difference - it's hard to say because there are no two otherwise identical UPS models, one approximated, the other - real.It doesn't hurt that the abundance of stepped sinewave UPS are because they are cheaper. As I recall, some Apple computers can have a problems with because of the power supply but other systems can have an issue. I don't own Apple productsso good for me. I haven't checked to see what the price difference is but if minimal then I'd get a real sinewave. Do you know what the price diff is?
Blue Iris , Power Outage
- Thread starter akeane01
- Start date
Switches including POE ones would power up. In some PC's there is a BIOS setting "Last State". If set (it's usually not default), the PC would power up after a power outage. But most PCs won't. And this is regardless of UPS because UPS's don't last forever unlike some power outages.
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,408
Most pc's have the option to boot when the power is restored. This is certainly the case with business class pc's and most home pc's as well.
I'd like to thank the OP for bringing up this question. I never thought about it. All my systems are UPS connected but UPS's don't last forever. My BI PC is set to hibernate when the UPS battery is exhausted. I did this to prevent system crash upon sudden power withdrawal. This may be especially important with constant writing to HDD. I never thought this PC wouldn't wake up by itself after a long outage in which the UPS will exhaust the battery.
What I am thinking to do is to set my Raspberry Pi to send wake-on-LAN packets to my BI PC every 10-15 minutes. When the PC is on it won't hurt anything but when it's off it will wake it up. The Raspberry Pi will power up without intervention when the power returns. I thought this could be useful to someone.
Sybertiger
Known around here
Yeah, something like that...I never kept up with UPS stuff but remember enough stuff to be dangerous.
You are fast
See my post after yours and before this. My PC is set to hibernate when battery exhausts. This is to prevent a system crash and possible HDD problems.
sebastiantombs
Known around here
I;m gonna put a UPS on my UPS to back that up, too.
Something like this?
The first unit is the UPS with internal battery, the second unit is multiple, additional batteries. Using APC's Powerchute software to shutdown server when backup has 10+/- minutes remaining.
BI server + POE switch + cameras + router + home automation +
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Just in case you are running your BI on an actual server, a lot of them will have problems with a modified sine wave UPS. Normal Business and Home PC work just fine.
If your PC hibernates upon loss of UPS power, just use a wall wort and a one shot to trigger the power switch on the PC. Not all UPS will come alive without someone pushing the power button. I have a Cyber Power that does not, but both of my APC does.
I run my PC until the UPS dies, and then when the power comes back on, the UPS powers back up and PC comes alive.
I also have over 8 hours of backup, and a generator, so I'm not too worried about losing it. My APC have a connector on the back to add more batteries.
If your PC hibernates upon loss of UPS power, just use a wall wort and a one shot to trigger the power switch on the PC. Not all UPS will come alive without someone pushing the power button. I have a Cyber Power that does not, but both of my APC does.
I run my PC until the UPS dies, and then when the power comes back on, the UPS powers back up and PC comes alive.
I also have over 8 hours of backup, and a generator, so I'm not too worried about losing it. My APC have a connector on the back to add more batteries.
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,408
This is not a concern. Most of my many BI machines are not on UPS. Loss of power will not cause any issues.You are fast
I know that this thread has been sleeping for some time, but I just want to draw your attention to a wonderful free piece of software called "winapcupsd". The regular software that comes with the consumer UPSs from APC is called PowerChute and will not send an e-mail in case of a mains blackout. However winapcupsd will, and it can also perform a graceful shutdown of a Windows computer, when the UPS has only little time left.
I have a system at a remote location (our second home) and use a cheap APC unit called Back-UPS CS 500. It works perfectly and I have had it for 10 years. Once it was damaged by a lightning and APC gave me a new free of charge. My system is working as follows:
1) Normal operation
2) Mains power failure
3) The PC sends an e-mail indicating power failure
4) After 12 minutes the PC makes a graceful shutdown
5) After 17 minutes the UPS gives up and power is gone
6) When power comes back, the UPS turns on automatically
7) When the PC sees power, it turns on and boots automatically (jumper setting in PC to do that)
The only issue is, that if the mains power comes back after 12 minutes but before 17 minutes, the PC will never see a power loss and will therefore not turn on again. For that case, I have installed a Sonoff WiFi Switch flashed with "Tasmota" software and placed it in the power cable to the PC. I can then remotely over the internet via router VPN toggle the power to the PC off and on, so the computer comes back in operation. That switch also gives me a possibility to reset the computer from a remote location if it hangs. That is rare but can occasionally happen. What I do not wish is to "loose" the computer when I am not at the second home.
I have a system at a remote location (our second home) and use a cheap APC unit called Back-UPS CS 500. It works perfectly and I have had it for 10 years. Once it was damaged by a lightning and APC gave me a new free of charge. My system is working as follows:
1) Normal operation
2) Mains power failure
3) The PC sends an e-mail indicating power failure
4) After 12 minutes the PC makes a graceful shutdown
5) After 17 minutes the UPS gives up and power is gone
6) When power comes back, the UPS turns on automatically
7) When the PC sees power, it turns on and boots automatically (jumper setting in PC to do that)
The only issue is, that if the mains power comes back after 12 minutes but before 17 minutes, the PC will never see a power loss and will therefore not turn on again. For that case, I have installed a Sonoff WiFi Switch flashed with "Tasmota" software and placed it in the power cable to the PC. I can then remotely over the internet via router VPN toggle the power to the PC off and on, so the computer comes back in operation. That switch also gives me a possibility to reset the computer from a remote location if it hangs. That is rare but can occasionally happen. What I do not wish is to "loose" the computer when I am not at the second home.
Thanks @t_andersen about your setup and the Sonoff idea , I often wondered how reliable Blue Iris would be if I installed a separate computer at a remote location, so will probably have to explore that. Since I am so far from the remote site, I want something with a safety net because the power does cutoff at that property at least 4-6 times per year due to weather (just based on past experiences). While I can record over VPN, I am limited to 2-5 FPS because of upload bandwidth limits, so having a high FPS local recording that I could access via RDP, or possibly just download is very enticing.
Possibly a project for sometime this year. It's nice having cameras on the inside and outside of a vacant house, as it greatly reduces my stress level being able to regularly check on it. I can also tell if it needs grass or snow removal more easily. The cameras and router all auto-power-on without issue, so will need something equally reliable for the remote BI PC.
Possibly a project for sometime this year. It's nice having cameras on the inside and outside of a vacant house, as it greatly reduces my stress level being able to regularly check on it. I can also tell if it needs grass or snow removal more easily. The cameras and router all auto-power-on without issue, so will need something equally reliable for the remote BI PC.
crw030, if you place a computer at the remote location, your biggest problem might well be lightning strikes. Make sure to plan for a good lightning protection of cams that have long cables. I have a camera in another building some 60 ft away from the main building and it repeatably gives me problems in spite of protection circuits. And the camera is not even grounded in the other building, it gets POE. I have looked into use of a fiber bridge but that's expensive.
Podagrower
Pulling my weight
Back in the day, we had DirecTV and whenever the power came back on it took a couple of minutes for the receiver to reboot, and during a good storm in FL, the power would go off again before the boot cycle was completed. So in went a small UPS, 5 minute run time was more than enough. Next was a UPS for the Modem and Router for the same reason. This year, when I started playing with cameras, I was also cleaning up storage for the company I work for and found a UPS that I thought would work just fine for my setup...filtered output, isolation transformer, surge protection, 1,300 watt rated, about a 2 hour run time, and free!!!
Not that expensive. Two of these USD$35 each and a fiber optic cable about USD$25. It may be more expensive in Sweden...
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Wow, that's interesting, have you guys used it for lightning protection? It would be necessary set up an external power supply though.
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I never had a need for this kind of setup, so my response was "theoretical" but that's how I would have done this. Yes, you would need at least a POE injector at the remote location (and better a UPS and a surge protector) but that's a given because you either transfer signal via optics but no power and have a lightning protection or no protection and no need for any of this.
what we really need is an inexpensive ethernet optocoupler with a physical dimension of a few inches to prevent the lightning to go through. Maybe it can be bought somewhere
I use this with no issues , It runs just about all the electronics in my house . 3.1 KVA - The natural gas generator starts after a minute so we never have any power bumps .
How are you going to power it? It will need power on both sites. Your idea goes against your complaint about the requirement of a remote power supply. You can't transfer power over optics. If it's not an issue, there are switches with optical ports + Ethernet.what we really need is an inexpensive ethernet optocoupler with a physical dimension of a few inches to prevent the lightning to go through. Maybe it can be bought somewhere