Re: [ILUG-BOM] How to detect a power failure? - Linuxers

17 Feb 2013

      -----Original Message-----
From: Arun Khan
Sent:  16/02/2013, 01:45 
To: GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India
Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] How to detect a power failure?
On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 7:57 PM, Binand Sethumadhavan binand@gmail.com 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
-- 

This usb idea is good. A usb powered device can be used where power comes externally for on/off and the system gives signal to detect that device is down. A cheap 200 rupees usb lan can be opened and modified. Every few minutes, the output of ifconfig can be grepped to detect the presence of eth(n). Battery power detect option is only in laptops.