Hi, I’m looking a UPS for my RPi4 that is hosting my Home Assistant. This is for protecting my sd card when there is power disruption.
I came across this sort of power bank where it can plug to the wall outlet directly. I was thinking is this good/safe enough to use it as UPS.
Let me know what do you think?
It’s needs to automatically shift to using battery if the AC power is disconnected. I looked for something like this a while ago and found there are units that act this way. However, some require you press a button to shift modes.
Good hunting!
Thanks for the comment. Are you able to find anything that’s actually works?
Wouldn’t any power bank work?
You generally have one usb micro and one or two usb A.
If you connect from a charger to micro then from A to pi then it will use the battery, but the charger will also charge the battery.
I think @Hellis81 is right. It should work. Just make automation if wifi or LAN is down then autoshutdown in 30minutes? something like that?
Be careful, you need one that can supply 3A to RPI 4, this will also require to charge with ~4Amp the battery.
I did not seen a usual power bank for charging phone/tablet that can be used for this.
Are you sure about that?
When I look at USB cables with A->micro they are generally rated for 1 or 2.1 amps.
Are you saying that the pi, the uses a micro connector uses 50% more than most cables is rated for?
google it…
rpi3 power requirements 5v 2A micro USB
rpi4 power requirements 5v 3A USB Type-C
I was battling the ‘low current’ shut off problem found in this post. I ended up going a different route for power, I never purchased any power banks for this purpose. But this company seems to be on top of corner case solutions:
https://voltaicsystems.com/always-on-batteries/#faq_2
info on ‘pass thru charging’ , google for more :
Thanks everyone for the comment. Got some good info from yours comments. I believe power bank still not enough as RPi4 UPS.
I found this another type of UPS in AliExpress which looks more promising.
US $19.54 15%OFF | 52Pi Original 18650 UPS With RTC & Coulometer Pro Power Supply Device Extended Two USB Port for Raspberry Pi 4 B / 3B+/ 3B
Is anyone using this? Might to share experience about the power stability? Also, does it require to install software to pi?
This is what you need a UPS Hat for Pi.
https://www.amazon.com/Geekworm-Raspberry-Management-Detection-Shutdown/dp/B087FXLZZH/
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FWAZEIU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I ended up just buying a UPS as I could not find an alternative solution that was significantly cheaper.
This looks good. Are you using this? It mentioned it needs Raspbian OS. However my RPi4 is running with Home Assistant OS.
Can I still use it as UPS?
Initially I was thinking it as well. However, my wall plug is quite far from the place where my RPi4 located and most of the UPS came with a short cable.
Also, most of the UPS does not recommend to connect it to the extension strip.
I confirm that Voltaic battery packs with pass through function works well with raspberry pi 4 as a UPS.
I have the 6400mAh one.
https://www.amazon.com/Voltaic-Systems-Formerly-Battery-Samsung/dp/B07ZS3WYZY
The output Voltaic battery packs is 5V/2A. Is that sufficient for Rpi4? The official power supply for RPi4 is rated 5V/3A.
No problem on my side even if I’m running it with an ssd.
I can check the current consumption if needed.
The datasheet of the pi 4 says 1.2A for peripherals.
So it depends a lot on what you are planning to connect to it. A simple math would say us that 3A -1.2A = 1.8A. So without accessories 2A should be ok.
It’s been a while since I moved my Home Assistant to NUC. However, I believe it just work out of box.
Yeah i will do the same, when my industrial card will fail. Will jump to NUC right away
3A is only the recommended power supply.
I bet it can run on half of that.
Edit:
Actually…
https://raspi.tv/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Raspberry-Pi-4B-Power-Usage-table.png
Taken from:
So less than 1A for sure when you run HA on it. @han3bi
