Are Hub batteries really necessary?

I understand it allows you to move the hub around to pair. I know that nothing happens with the hub during power outages. But it shouldn’t take that long to come back online. Does it? I’m more concerned about battery leaks. Do they really need to be in all the time?

Unless you are plugged in to a UPS then if power fails you loose conection and have to wait for power to come back up. It gives you a short supply of power. I have mine in a UPS, but I do have batteries in it. I check the batteries weekly for leaks.

Why do you need batteries with a UPS?

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How long do you think power lasts while running on UPS?

Guess that would depend on the size of the UPS.

Been running my hub without batteries ever since I got it. If the power goes out, nothing works anyway, and once the power is restored the hub is up and running again long before I get the clocks around the house sorted!

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After my first set of leaking batteries, i run my hub without.
(I do have about 6 hours UPS power for the house though)

— Andy —

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I will agree that the batteries in the hub don’t have a lot of merit.

However, if you have a UPS, you are not dead in the water. I have my SmartThings Hub, a Smart Outlet (runs locally) and a lamp plugged into it with a Hue Bulb (runs locally), and my laptop (which I switch over to a hotspot for internet) plugged into a UPS downstairs.

Another smart outlet (runs locally) with a lamp and a Hue bulb (runs locally) on a UPS upstairs.

I get about 3 hours on the UPS downstairs and about 2 hours upstairs.

If the power goes out, I still have control of my local devices through SmartThings and all of my ST Motion Sensors and Multipurpose sensors (battery operated) are running locally, as well as the Hue bulb downstairs and upstairs. Smart Lighting rules will still work as well so long as the devices in the rule are all local and have power or battery operated.

So SmartThings is good for about 3 hours total to get around and function, especially if the power outage happens at night.

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You must get a lot of outages to put that much work and expense in! In the last 35 years here in my part of the UK I doubt I’ve seen more than half a dozen, only a couple of which I can remember lasting more than an hour or two, the rest just a few minutes… So I guess I’ve been lucky :sunglasses:

I’m in the UK too and we get them vary rarely, however the RCD does trip from time to time due to unstable voltages (spikes) that we get in the village.
I run my business from home so need reliability that’s why I have so much spare capacity on the UPS and two broadband lines into the house.
I also have a generator I can use for essential systems if the power is out for any extended time.

Redundancy & preparation keeps me going :slight_smile:

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During the summer July / August we reach temps of up to 115° F and with as many people that have their air conditioners running, we are susceptible to what we call here, brownouts. Short power outages because the electrical grid just can’t handle it all. Plus that creates a surge and I don’t want some of my important electronics fried from it. And as Andy stated, I am a home based business as well.

Better safe than sorry :slight_smile:

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On a few occasions I had to move it near a distant sensor.

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Joel is going mobile with the hub!!!

You would think they’d make a sensor for that.

:innocent:

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That might make it in before Bluetooth or USB is active.

The USB could be used to duplicate the cloud functionality. Make everything local.

Maybe the V5 hub?

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I do not use batteries in mine.

I removed my batteries and have it on a small UPS… my reality is that I have a whole home generator (18kw) so if I lose power I have about a 30s-3m outtage that the UPS covers until we are on generator power which hums along until mains are restored

How would I set something up like this if you don’t mind me asking.?