If you are planning to invest in smart home security, have you considered how you will handle backup power? Backup power is essential to keeping a smart system running even when grid power goes out. If you don’t care about that, okay. But if you do, there are some critical things you need to know.
First off, smart home security is demonstrably different from previous iterations of the typical home security system. Today’s systems, like those professionally installed by Vivint Home Security, integrate a whole host of sensors and smart technologies to make devices far more effective at protecting homes. But all this technology requires a lot more power. And if the power goes out, a system is rendered completely useless.
Two Ways to Look at Backup Power
There are two ways to look at backup power for a smart home security system. The first is device power, and the second is system power. Here’s the thing: it is not one or the other. You actually have to consider both.
At the Device Level
Devices that are hard-wired or plug into a wall outlet obviously lose power when the grid goes down. No worries if they have embedded battery backups. But what if they do not?
The perfect example is a smoke detector. Even hard-wired smoke detectors tend to rely on battery power as a backup. It’s typically a 9-volt battery that is easily installed by taking off the cover and clipping the battery in. To me, it makes little sense to invest in a hard-wired unit without battery backup.
At the System Level
Backup power at the device level is simple enough to deal with. But at the system level, it becomes more complicated being everything on the system is powered by electricity. This includes your home security hub and network router. What happens if grid power goes out?
Your smoke detector with battery backup will continue monitoring for smoke. But if your network is down, you will not get a smartphone alert in the event that your smoke detector goes off. You would never know of a potential fire if you were away from home.
Options for System-Level Backup
System-level backup power is arguably the more important of the two. So the next question is one of options. What is the best way to provide system-level power when grid power goes out? Here are your main choices:
- UPS – An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) provides short-term power for things like networks, modems, and home security hubs. They are fine for outages that last no longer than a few hours.
- Whole-home Battery Packs – A whole-home battery and backup system can power all your home security devices. But if you need to choose between home security and, let us say, your refrigerator and sump pump, which way will you go?
- Backup Generator – A backup generator can provide just enough power to run high-priority devices or enough power to handle your entire home. The bigger and more powerful a backup generator is, the more expensive it is.
If you’re looking to power your entire home security system, a UPS makes little sense. You are better off with either a whole-home battery pack or a backup generator.
Do Your Homework
There is a lot more to home security backup power than can be explained in a single post. So if you are planning to invest in backup power, do your homework. Know as much as you can before you make an expensive investment. Make sure you are getting your money’s worth.