On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 1:45 AM, Arun Khan <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 7:57 PM, Binand Sethumadhavan <[email protected]> wrote: > > I am thinking of something like a mobile charger that would plug in a > > regular 3-pin plug at one end and a computer at the other, and some > > software/sensor combo that would read the (DC) voltage at the computer end. > > If there is no voltage, there is no power in the mains and ergo - we are in > > the middle of a power outage, so take action. Know of something along these > > lines? > > > > (idea is to detect power failures, while powered by a "dumb" UPS unit - one > > that cannot communicate with the a computer. Any other > > solutions/suggestions?). > > > > Good idea. You could use one of those AC Mains to USB > adapter/charger; which I think gives out 5V on the USB power line. A > USB cable into the computer USB port should be a good starting. > > -- Arun Khan > -- > http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
A laptop already detects that using battery charging or not. I'm not sure how. You can rig that power module from a laptop to make a makeshift UPS that can do that. But I guess here you are looking at UPS for Desktop/Servers. In which case you will need to spend a USB port. However the standard on power grids is PLC. I remember people doing final year engineering projects on this topic. Here is an intro article on the topic. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line_communication The USB will work for sure to detect power failure but how will you communicate to "dumb" ups from the computer? Curious. -- Sanket -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
