What happens when your internet goes out?

[JayU]

I was able to install the system easily, which was amazing. But now I'm wondering what happens in the event your internet goes out? 

It can happen from time to time where I live, and I can imagine that from what I'm reading so far, the outage would disable the whole system and won't store any recordings in the event the cameras detect motion during the event.

I'm just wondering if anyone happens to know what a backup solution could be?

I see the base station has two USB ports in the back. I'm hoping that you could attach an external harddrive as a backup just in case, but I don't see any documentation regarding that.

Thanks!

[TomMac]

True, If the internet goes out, your basicly out of luck.  Good news it should reboot back up by itself.

As to a back up, for me I have a large battery backup for power...if I loose power, the battery will keep my modem internet system  up for 24 hrs run time.  If cable (my internet ) is physically broken, I'm still ng.

As to the usb ports... they're there for future use, unknown and non-functional at this time, there is no local HD record.

[cghs]

what kind of battery backup can you puchase in case your internet goes out?

[TomMac]

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what kind of battery backup can you puchase in case your internet goes out?

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I run a backup battery for my router and cable modem ( and base too now )... just in case the power goes out.

BUT, if the cable line or internet goes out.... it's really not going to work as there is no local recording at this time.

[DobeHuskyMom]

Hi TomMac, hoping you can help me.  I am needing a backup battery for my router/modem and would like it to continue running up to 24 hours in case of loss of power.  I've been on Amazon trying to find the right equipmet to do this, but I am so confused.  Could you please tell me specifically what items I need to accomplish this?  Thanks so much.

[jguerdat]

You can use this product selector to find an appropriate UPS:

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/US/en/home/load

However, just trying it out for you using 30 watts (I plugged my Kill-A-Watt into my system to measure the load at 33-ish watts which includes an inactive but plugged in USB hard drive on my router) and 24 hours gives me results for the APC SMX750 (750VA) or SUA1000XL (1000VA) which Amazon has for $420-$600:

http://www.amazon.com/APC-Smart-UPS-Battery-Backup-SMX750/dp/B002TIU7CC/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=...

http://www.amazon.com/APC-SUA1000XL-Smart-UPS-Serial-Interface/dp/B00006BBKB

You need to measure your loads so you can plug in accurate numbers and then decide where your threshold of pain is.  24 hours is rather extreme for most outages but that's your decision.  I happen to be using an APC 750VA UPS at a much lower price point but have never tested how long it will run since I really don't care as long as it flies through a couple of hours before I start up the generator.  Check these out:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=apc+750va+ups&spre...

[TomMac]

What He Said !  🙂

The hardest part is to fiqure out what your power draw is...

You can look at the AC wall adapter for the two items ( or on the unit ) and they will list the current draw listed under INPUT

The listed current X 100 will give you the aprox watts used.... put this into the calulator

exp... my router takes .5a @120, my Arlo base ac adapter says .56a

so total is a bit over 1amp x100 = 100w

It's do-able but very pricey as you found out if you use the calc site.

My setup is a little bigger than J's but I don't think it will actually run 24 hrs ... Its was a 1500va or 900watts...which now has a larger battery than original so it's a bit bigger / higher rated now....( that's most of what makes these last longer is just a bigger battery )

But, if you follow the orig specs, a 1500va, it should go 9 hrs with 100w draw. 

I've run it for a max of 5 hrs I think... If home I also have a generator that goes on after afew hours.

I gues what it comes down to is how long do u really need it to run and how much $ you'll put toward that.

[jguerdat]

Going by the ratings on power supplies is for the max possible draw they support, not what is actually used. That's why I measured and came up with 33w which is about 1/3 of what you're showing.  That, of course, is in a relatively quiescent state - loading up the router/modem with data transfer and then adding video transfer is going to bump that up some but is also brief and occasional so the overall consumption is more on the low end.

A pertinent question is whether 24 hours is actually needed.  When we've had power outages, they're either brief (single digit hours) or much longer than a day...

[DobeHuskyMom]

Thank you both!  That definitely helps me.

I was thinking 24 hours because if I have a power outage where I live (my property is between a Methodist church and a private Baptist school and I am on the same grid with the school), it will be due to someone cutting my line while I am gone.  I was thinking 24 hours would give the power company time to make the repair.

I'm looking at a security camera that will send me an alert if my internet goes down.  My internet only goes down if I have a very rare power surge, so I am thinking I may just save myself the expense of the backup battery and just get the alert when my modem/router goes down.

But someone could disable an IP secuirty system by cutting the internet line, so the battery backup would not guarantee to keep the system up and running.  The cameras that send the alerts when the internet goes down is sounding like the better idea for my situation.

Thank you again for your help!

[jguerdat]

If the Internet connection goes down for any reason there's no way to send an alert unless it uses cell technology or other unrelated data transfer.  Loss of power but not Internet would allow a UPS or other device to send an alert.