Very cool project! Another method you can run entirely remotely, if your utility supports it, is poll the utility's customer API endpoint for data where they expose if your power is out using your smart meter. ComEd in Illinois supports this, for example.
fanatic2pope 59 minutes ago [-]
I have a home server that is on 24x7 protected by a UPS. The UPS monitoring daemon (nut) provides a hook for calling a script when its status changes, so I have it push a high priority notification to my phone via ntfy whenever it goes on battery or off battery. I also have it broadcast on mqtt so that in the future I can have a dedicated daemon that will collect stats and take other actions that aren't really appropriate for a hook script.
sugarpimpdorsey 53 minutes ago [-]
How hilariously complicated.
Make UPS data available over SNMP, track via MRTG. A simple, decidedly 1990s solution that unsurprisingly still works. Pretty graphs and everything.
fanatic2pope 53 minutes ago [-]
Complicated? It's a 10 line shell script and a single configuration item in the nut config.
sugarpimpdorsey 51 minutes ago [-]
> I also have it broadcast on mqtt so that in the future I can have a dedicated daemon that will collect stat
mqtt? How many Docker containers do you have running to track UPS voltage?
I keep forgetting SNMP is not "web scale" and only for greybeards on a minimum of 3+ prescription medications.
fanatic2pope 47 minutes ago [-]
LOL, docker for running mosquitto at home? Who does that?
Xevion 28 minutes ago [-]
Are you recommending that I run mosquitto directly on my Unraid server rather than Docker?
Just to re-iterate, Unraid is a proprietary Linux OS based on Slackware Linux. It is generally ill-advised to ever run tooling directly on Unraid when a Dockerized equivalent is available.
sugarpimpdorsey 46 minutes ago [-]
More than you think....
AFAIK it's the "recommended" way to run it.
fusionadvocate 58 minutes ago [-]
How does ntfy compares to Pushover?
fanatic2pope 53 minutes ago [-]
I don't know, I've never used pushover. A quick look at their home page doesn't seem to indicate the option of self hosting on a VPS, so that precludes it for me. Otherwise from the code samples provided, it looks quite similar.
ge96 50 minutes ago [-]
I have a self-updating github readme, reads a sensor at my home
I joke if it goes down means something happened to me but sometimes the server has a problem like running out of space since an error logger keeps writing over and over
black_puppydog 2 hours ago [-]
I've seen the John Oliver videos and all, so I know this comes as a surprise to no-one but... the US needs to get its act together and build some actual infrastructure. I've heard lots of encouraging stories on the Volts podcast about it, too. Not enough, not fast enough, from what I understand.
I'm 38 and I've had power go out in my house for lots of reasons, but all of them came down to me blowing a fuse somehow. I can't remember ever having had an actual, you know, power outage. So I guess I just here to tell you over there in the US that another way is possible. :)
sugarpimpdorsey 2 minutes ago [-]
> So I guess I just here to tell you over there in the US that another way is possible.
You too can be one of those Euros that is hypnotized by Island County, Washington.
(Generator sold separately.)
nancyminusone 40 minutes ago [-]
Depends on the region. I live in one of the bad areas, with lots of trees. The power goes out every couple months for a couple hours.
But I was very surprised to learn that until 2021, most Texans had never had a power interruption in decades (which I suppose added to their panic).
Not all that useful to say "the US" here. California has it's wildfires and earthquakes. The west has extreme temperature swings. Southeast has hurricanes, and northeast has trees, ice, and wind. The entire south likes to run air conditioning. What does your country or its neighbors face? How about 10 countries over?
bob1029 53 seconds ago [-]
[delayed]
GloriousKoji 24 minutes ago [-]
I live in the 3rd "wealthiest" county in the United States. The combined market cap of headquartered companies here total over 10 trillion dollars. I can't install solar panels and I can't be bothered to buy house batteries so I've only had power 98.6% of the time last year.
I've lost hope. In theory it can be done but it feels something on the same order as setting foot on the moon again. We have the technology and capability to do so but somehow our population collective decision results in keep things garabge.
danieldk 46 minutes ago [-]
Same here (Western Europe). I can't recall the last time we had a power outage that was not caused inside the house.
All power cables except for long-distance transport are underground though, which probably helps a lot and might account for the difference to a large extend.
(Our microwave oven did trip our residual-current circuit breaker a few weeks ago, never encountered that before, only 'fuse switch'-flips. Sadly that was the end of the device after 16 years.)
sugarpimpdorsey 7 minutes ago [-]
> Our microwave oven did trip our residual-current circuit breaker a few weeks ago, never encountered that before
We have these in the USA too, but they're on the individual sockets, so half the house is not in the dark when they trip. They typically were not required on the microwave socket, though they may be now.
mcone 2 hours ago [-]
Do you have trees where you live? :) Because we have above-ground power lines in much of the US, wind and ice are always bringing branches down on power lines.
toomuchtodo 59 minutes ago [-]
New local and/or urban last mile electrical distribution infra is typically buried, but to your point, lots of legacy above ground infra at risk until someone finds the funds to bury/harden it.
(have an electrical journeyman friend who will spend the rest of his life upgrading California electrical infra, we speak frequently on this topic)
sugarpimpdorsey 22 minutes ago [-]
> lots of legacy above ground infra
Where do you think the fancy underground wires in your neighborhood get their power from?
The branches almost never fall on the drop to the house in your yard. It's always a mile away on the main road (where the town won't fine you for not trimming your trees) and thus knocks out power for thousands of customers.
Burying the last mile is purely for aesthetic reasons because Karen thinks the wires are ugly.
19 minutes ago [-]
wredcoll 1 hours ago [-]
I'm as big a fan of ragging on "america" as anyone else, but it does occasionally have a few relatively unique problems compared to most other countries, such as the distances involved and the (lack of) density of population.
Above ground electric lines vs buried ones are a good example of how quickly your ROI can drop off for infrastructure problems.
Spending 10 million to add cold-weather protection to a powerplant that services 5million people? No brainer. Spending 10 million to bury 100 miles of power line that services 1000 people? Ehh...
Make UPS data available over SNMP, track via MRTG. A simple, decidedly 1990s solution that unsurprisingly still works. Pretty graphs and everything.
mqtt? How many Docker containers do you have running to track UPS voltage?
I keep forgetting SNMP is not "web scale" and only for greybeards on a minimum of 3+ prescription medications.
Just to re-iterate, Unraid is a proprietary Linux OS based on Slackware Linux. It is generally ill-advised to ever run tooling directly on Unraid when a Dockerized equivalent is available.
AFAIK it's the "recommended" way to run it.
I joke if it goes down means something happened to me but sometimes the server has a problem like running out of space since an error logger keeps writing over and over
I'm 38 and I've had power go out in my house for lots of reasons, but all of them came down to me blowing a fuse somehow. I can't remember ever having had an actual, you know, power outage. So I guess I just here to tell you over there in the US that another way is possible. :)
You too can be one of those Euros that is hypnotized by Island County, Washington.
(Generator sold separately.)
But I was very surprised to learn that until 2021, most Texans had never had a power interruption in decades (which I suppose added to their panic).
Not all that useful to say "the US" here. California has it's wildfires and earthquakes. The west has extreme temperature swings. Southeast has hurricanes, and northeast has trees, ice, and wind. The entire south likes to run air conditioning. What does your country or its neighbors face? How about 10 countries over?
I've lost hope. In theory it can be done but it feels something on the same order as setting foot on the moon again. We have the technology and capability to do so but somehow our population collective decision results in keep things garabge.
All power cables except for long-distance transport are underground though, which probably helps a lot and might account for the difference to a large extend.
(Our microwave oven did trip our residual-current circuit breaker a few weeks ago, never encountered that before, only 'fuse switch'-flips. Sadly that was the end of the device after 16 years.)
We have these in the USA too, but they're on the individual sockets, so half the house is not in the dark when they trip. They typically were not required on the microwave socket, though they may be now.
https://www.fema.gov/case-study/overhead-underground-it-pays...
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/21/burying-power-lines-for-wild...
https://research.ufl.edu/should-power-lines-go-underground.h...
https://web.archive.org/web/20220101210439/https://www.eei.o...
(have an electrical journeyman friend who will spend the rest of his life upgrading California electrical infra, we speak frequently on this topic)
Where do you think the fancy underground wires in your neighborhood get their power from?
The branches almost never fall on the drop to the house in your yard. It's always a mile away on the main road (where the town won't fine you for not trimming your trees) and thus knocks out power for thousands of customers.
Burying the last mile is purely for aesthetic reasons because Karen thinks the wires are ugly.
Above ground electric lines vs buried ones are a good example of how quickly your ROI can drop off for infrastructure problems.
Spending 10 million to add cold-weather protection to a powerplant that services 5million people? No brainer. Spending 10 million to bury 100 miles of power line that services 1000 people? Ehh...