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Is there really a need for battery-based sensors in the home beyond windows and doors?

user4517

I am in the process of completing a Fuel Oil Tank sensor for my home. I originally worked on code to maximize battery life assuming the need to have a battery, but recently realized I could just implement a USB power converter near the oil tank to feed the sensor. It made me wonder what sensors would require battery support over low voltage direct cable. Here is a list of sensors I believe would not require batteries, and after that list which one's would need batteries. I would enjoy hearing feedback on my list and your perceptions on use of batteries in home sensors.

Don't need batteries:

1 Appliance sensors, including plugs, lights, switches, kitchen appliances, water heater, laundry appliances, HVAC, overall power monitoring and water monitoring.

2. Human location and environmental sensors, including PIM or room movement, environmental (air/gas, temp, level of light, etc.). Also, mmWave sensing for GPS like functionality in the home.

3. Security camaras for outside house where the camaras are mounted on the house (Wi-Fi and POE). In-house camaras that are mounted in the ceiling or in entertainment\computer devices.

Do need batteries:

1. Stand-alone camaras for in-house (Naney cams, or other hidden cameras) Note: many room camera could be connected to existing entertainment or computer devices in a room eliminating the need for batteries

2. External disconnected cameras and environmental sensors (weather stations), and other remote monitoring for security or eventing.

3. Human wearable devices

as you can see the list of Do not need is extensive and the need for most of the do need are limited use, with the only exception being wearable devices.

Let me know what you think.

Pat

  • in reply to kmikemoo

    Wall warts are great, but the number keeps multiplying. House wiring outlets were never designed to accommodate endless wall warts.

  • in reply to shabaz

    There are some mini UPS out there for this sort of purpose that provide a variable DC output.

    https://www.eaton.com/gb/en-gb/skuPage.3SM36B.html

    I'm not sure I like the way it defaults to 12v though. If it's going to lose its settings then I would prefer it defaults the lowest output.

    Not AA cells but a user replaceable Li Ion battery is a start. 

    I suspect with the loss of the UK PSTN service then more of these type of units will become popular, especially for those with elderly relatives. Phone providers were supposed to have to provide one as standard but looks like Ofcom has backed down on that front. I expect insurance companies will treat this as a 'phone charger' when cheap clones start causing fires.

    It also depends on whether the power cut takes out your roadside box if you only have fibre to the cabinet and not direct into the home.

    I was thinking the other day of a 'joule thief' AA 'juicer' with a boost to 5v USB for dumping old (or new) AA's into a USB power bank.

  • in reply to robogary

    Forgive me for telling this story again, but I had my network on a UPS - only to find out that the ISP didn't have backup power in my neighborhood.
    Small power backup for riding through power blips is still a good idea.  If you have cellular internet... different story.

  • in reply to dougw

    I have a box of 288 AAs about to expire in the office that didn't get used during 'lockdown'. Luckily I have another couple of boxes to see me through... Slight smile

    I probably keep around 100 in a drawer at home. A lot are spares for torches/lanterns 'just in case' so get wasted. Lack of standardisation in size doesn't really help. Ideally want a joule thief juicer that can dump them into a USB power bank or other USB charged device before recycling.   

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    Great find. That's a very reasonable price, especially coming from a reputable manufacturer. I guess with the availability of 5G or 4G/LTE, a loss of wired connection from the provider won't stop the users who want a backup for that circumstance too. I currently have a separate 4G router, but in theory that could be set up even as an automatic backup (but would probably just use the mobile phone if it's just for a few hours! The phone sometimes is faster to work with than the laptop, if the laptop is busy doing stuff).. 

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    " looks like Ofcom has backed down on that front". Not surprised. Rare for any of these bodies to actually help users or actually punish firms.

    I recently complained to ASA about JML "Navy Seal Draft Shield tape" TV adverts, since once would assume it's related to a real navy considering the ad is all about shielding from water and air in cold weather.. or some might even think that it's endorsed by Navy SEALs. It's certainly not navy-blue coloured if that's their excuse. It's all misleading. They did nothing about it, suggesting they may reconsider if others complain too. I don't see why it should be related to number of complaints..

  • in reply to kmikemoo

    Here we've been lucky for a while in some ways, because most home Internet tends to come via phone lines (versus cable, which is probably more popular in the US I believe), and traditionally phone lines had to stay up legally all year round, only allowed 6 minutes of unscheduled down-time per year, and I believe therefore the line cards were powered from the same backed up sources as for voice-only line cards. Of course, none of this helped if there was a storm which destroyed lines for instance. I'm not super-knowledgeable on this residential side of things though, so I may have got it wrong. Anyway, things have changed a lot now. I'm looking to move to higher-speed fibre Internet (still deciding which provider, and which speed option).

  • in reply to shabaz

    With ADSL it was more robust as the copper went back to the exchange and the exchange provided the power for the analogue phones. If the power took out the town then it would only be a short outage before they switched to generator (or were prioritised for mobile generator) and then your phones and Internet came back.

    With VDSL though, your Internet got moved onto fiber at the roadside cab which wasn't backed up by generator supply. So town-wide outage and you had landline but not Internet.

    With PSTN now going, then landline moves to VOIP and onto fibre at the roadside cab. So town-wide outage and you have no landline and no Internet.

    No backup to mobile phone networks so basically a complete communications failure when you are most likely to need it. Apparently they call this progress...

    Not sure about fibre to the home though - I suspect there are repeaters in the roadside cabinets so they will likely fail with a town-wide power outage.

  • in reply to dougw

    Hence why Europe is trying to move to standardise on USB-C chargers but there will still likely be issues. Difference in power output for one, and still the problem of 'peak demand' where you still need to charge multiple devices at once at the end of the working shift. Also warranty claims being rejected because you used an unapproved 3rd party charging device...

    Office environments neither. I often have to use 19" rack vertical PDU strips to plug in about 10-15 wall warts at a time. 

  • in reply to shabaz

    It then becomes a question of how many mini UPS versus one or two larger UPS. Locations of equipment will perhaps dictate that to a certain extent.

    Perhaps once you get your car/leisure battery to USB-C PD sorted, then you might need a USB-C PD to 5v/9v/12v/15v/19v solution for those remaining DC coaxial power devices. Slight smile

    I have a 3G modem/router as backup. Wasn't much use though as when I needed it, the storm took out the 3G network as well.