Monitoring electricity availablity with a smart plug.

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Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Monitoring electricity availablity with a smart plug.

OwenWatson

91 posts

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#303302 30-Jan-2023 22:15

I'm trying to remotely determine whether the power is on in a building and one way is to use a smart plug and have a schedule that turns it on every x minutes; the theory is that failure will show in the logs. I've checked the Tapo P100 docs and they don't mention any log page on the app. Can any user confirm this with the app in use?

michaelmurfy

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#3029796 30-Jan-2023 22:24

Erm why would you do it this way? There are much easier ways.

Sounds like this place has internet access. Why not just use something like https://uptimerobot.com to monitor the internet connection?

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OwenWatson

91 posts

Master Geek

#3029797 30-Jan-2023 22:55

There's only a router+wireless access point (that is turned off when the eletricity is turned off) with a non-fixed IP. I'd love to use your suggested service but the non-fixed IP buggers it up. Any suggestions?

michaelmurfy

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#3029798 30-Jan-2023 22:58

Just use Dynamic DNS like https://www.duckdns.org/ - really simple.

Then set up a monitor in Uptime Robot (or similar) to "ping" this Dynamic DNS name you set up.

jarledb

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#3029801 30-Jan-2023 23:11

I use iSocket to monitor power loss. It can call you and send you SMS messages when power goes away. I have set it up to fetch a URL that also creates a Pushover notification.

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neb

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#3029963 31-Jan-2023 14:51

OwenWatson:
There's only a router+wireless access point (that is turned off when the eletricity is turned off) with a non-fixed IP. I'd love to use your suggested service but the non-fixed IP buggers it up. Any suggestions?

Stick the cheapest Ethernet-enabled whatsit you can behind the router (Arduino/ESP32/whatever) and have it send a keepalive once a minute?

mattenz

190 posts

Master Geek

#3030074 31-Jan-2023 19:40

Or an old smartphone on a charger, send an alert when it stops.

MarkM536

256 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3030082 31-Jan-2023 20:19

OwenWatson:

I'm trying to remotely determine whether the power is on in a building.

Would a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) be of use for your equipment?

That also gives some power for a device (or the UPS) to notify you that the power has gone out.

OwenWatson

91 posts

Master Geek

#3030101 31-Jan-2023 21:36

I don't want to buy anything unless I have to. Is there any way I can set up the router so it uses dyndns so I have a consistent name to ping?

richms

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#3030107 31-Jan-2023 22:18

OwenWatson:

I don't want to buy anything unless I have to. Is there any way I can set up the router so it uses dyndns so I have a consistent name to ping?

Depends on the router, many do have dynamic dns updating on them. Otherwise I don't really think that a $10 wifi microcontroller is a huge burden to spend on for something like this.

Richard rich.ms

jarledb

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#3030143 1-Feb-2023 03:19

Re: non fixed ip: If you are behind a CGNAT then I don't think any DynDNS is going to help you.

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