Power Failure Monitoring

[philg3]

I've come across a thread or two along with some products that are meant to monitor your aquarium for power outages. Some seem to work better than others, but there is an easier way if you have a monitored alarm system installed in your home/office.

I work in a monitoring station for a large security company. We monitor homes, businesses, farms, power stations etc. etc. etc. One of the common attributes on most alarm systems is that they are monitored for AC Power and have a backup battery to keep the system running in case of power failures.

This means when there is a power outage at your home or business the monitoring station will receive a signal identifying a power failure. In order to be notified when this happens, most times it is as simple as putting instructions on your account to advise whenever a power failure signal is received. If you already have a monitored alarm system in your home, I'd encourage you to call your security monitoring station and ask if they could notify you right away whenever there is a power failure.

A few Notes:

1. Some systems are programmed with an automatic delay ie; the system hold the signal for 30 minutes before sending anything to the monitoring station. This can usually be reprogrammed to instantly send a signal.

2. All alarm systems are different, talk to your security company and find out what is possible.

3. In addition to power failure monitoring, there are some other sensors that I have been talking with our tech department about hooking straight into my system. (Water Bugs, Flood sensors, temperature sensors etc.) I'll try and keep you posted on how these work in saltwater etc.

I decided to post because I imagine that most people have some sort of alarm system already installed and monitored in their home. This means that you already pay for a service to track you or one of your emergency contacts down in case anything bad (burglary or fire) happens at home.

Why not extend that coverage to your aquarium?

I'll try and answer any questions I can, if you have specific questions regarding my company or live in BC or Alberta and have been considering an alarm PM me and I should be able to point you in the right direction.