Power failure or PSTN failure

[rednus]

All, one main important ingredient for a security system is to function when there is a power failure (deliberately or naturally) and communicate that info using PSTN line or GSM line..

Anybody did any permutations as to what happens or what should happen when power and pstn line has been cut deliberately or by a natural disaster..

any help appreciated..

thanks
rednus

[Zaerc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

[rednus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

Hi Zaerc, I did think about UPS, but a UPS can supply only a part of the appliance.. but even if we assume that UPS keeps the core running for some time.. how the user can be informed of the situation of the PSTN line got cut off? (No PSTN mean no internet either)

thanks
rednus

[rednus]

I wonder how the professional installers like Dianemo tackle this issue?

Cheers

[krys]

there are plenty of UPS' that will notify an email account when power is lost, not sure about the phone line being cut though....

[Zaerc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

Hi Zaerc, I did think about UPS, but a UPS can supply only a part of the appliance.. but even if we assume that UPS keeps the core running for some time.. how the user can be informed of the situation of the PSTN line got cut off? (No PSTN mean no internet either)

thanks
rednus

Ummm, maybe that can be solved using carrier pigeons? 

[Techstyle]

In the case of a power failure and Internet connection cut (cable or DSL) then you would be dead unless you had (as stated earlier) a UPS.  With a UPS you could keep the core on but any IP cameras and USB cameras connected to the MD's would be dead.  Most Z-wave PIR's and Door sensors are battery powered and as long as your Z-wave dongle was on the core your Z-wave sensors would work.  So the sensing half of the security system would work if you used z-wave.

How do you alert somebody?

With no Phone line neither the conventional or LMCE can make calls out

if you had a conventional alarm, in most cases, it would power up the siren and alert the neighbors even without any sensors being tripped.  More advanced ones would wait for a sensor to be tripped but would power up the siren once this happens.

So LinuxMCE would be as good as a conventional system with the addition of a Z-wave siren under these conditions and well in advanced of most when power was on.

I have tried searching for a Z-wave siren and came up with nothing.  You could make something if you could find a 6-12v z-wave relay, a regular siren ($15 ish) and a 9v battery.  A fun project me thinks