Detecting power outage with HighATO pin

AlanM · Post by **AlanM** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 am

I'm going to be using LowATO for my Avast Skimmate locker and will have HighATO free. I'd like to use it to detect power outages since I'm going to have the relay box plugged in to a large UPS. Then I'd do things like turn off certain ports (lights mainly) to preserve the UPS power.

It seems like I can just use a 5V phone charger plugged in to a non-UPS outlet and wire the 5V across HighATO in the correct direction so it would detect 5V high all the time, but when the thing was powered off, it would drop to 0V on the sense pin and detect the outage.

Should that work?

lnevo · Post by **lnevo** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:00 am

You need a relay, you don't want to send voltage in like that. You can have the 5v ps open a close a relay which will trigger the port same as a float switch.

I do exactly this but i use a second relay box to detect the power outage.

AlanM · Post by **AlanM** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:19 am

OK. Relay seems like overkill, plus I don't have one of those. I do have some little transistors, though. I'll put a 2n2222 with base and emitter on the USB 5V adapter with a 10k Ohm resistor included and collector and emitter on the high ATO pins and detect when it goes open. Seems like that should work and wouldn't be sending anything into the high ATO pin.

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:45 am

I think that works.

AlanM · Post by **AlanM** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:52 am

rimai wrote:I think that works.

Thanks. Will do that.

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