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  3. What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?

What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?

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  • jamzmJ jamzm

    Has anyone gotten their PiModules UPS PIco to work right or for very long? And is it even compatible with a Pi 3B?

    alexsh1A Offline
    alexsh1A Offline
    alexsh1
    wrote on last edited by
    #35

    @jamzm I have

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    • gohanG gohan

      that costs more than the RPI itself :D

      alexsh1A Offline
      alexsh1A Offline
      alexsh1
      wrote on last edited by
      #36

      @gohan You can hardly find a UPS HAT priced less than Euro 25. And the cheapest version of PiModules works well for me. I am not a fan of external UPS for RPi

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      • gohanG gohan

        anyway 2A is more than enough for a Raspberry

        alexsh1A Offline
        alexsh1A Offline
        alexsh1
        wrote on last edited by
        #37

        @gohan said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

        anyway 2A is more than enough for a Raspberry

        No, I do not think it is enough. They recommend 2.5A PSU for the latest RPI. I have 3A power supply for RPi3B. 2A was not enough, but I must say I have a few bits and bobs attached to my RPi like camera or Z-wave USB module

        gohanG 1 Reply Last reply
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        • NeverDieN NeverDie

          @gohan said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

          Price is not bad compared to others, but still costs more than a pi3 😅

          The pi is mass produced. His UPS is probably produced in small batches. i.e. it's more of a specialty item, which somewhat explains the price.

          alexsh1A Offline
          alexsh1A Offline
          alexsh1
          wrote on last edited by
          #38

          @neverdie said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

          @gohan said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

          Price is not bad compared to others, but still costs more than a pi3 😅

          The pi is mass produced. His UPS is probably produced in small batches. i.e. it's more of a specialty item, which somewhat explains the price.

          Yes, you are spot on. It is hard to beat the RPi price. I think Pi Zero W priced at GBP 9 here in the UK - this is less expensive than some AVR platforms and yet much more powerful.
          All UPS HATs I looked at here priced around Euro 25+. This is designed for DIY users and hence produced in much smaller quantities. Additionally, things like firmware has to be written and maintained up to date. And that is a big cost as this is not an open source.

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          • alexsh1A alexsh1

            @gohan said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

            anyway 2A is more than enough for a Raspberry

            No, I do not think it is enough. They recommend 2.5A PSU for the latest RPI. I have 3A power supply for RPi3B. 2A was not enough, but I must say I have a few bits and bobs attached to my RPi like camera or Z-wave USB module

            gohanG Offline
            gohanG Offline
            gohan
            Mod
            wrote on last edited by
            #39

            @alexsh1 said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

            @gohan said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

            anyway 2A is more than enough for a Raspberry

            No, I do not think it is enough. They recommend 2.5A PSU for the latest RPI. I have 3A power supply for RPi3B. 2A was not enough, but I must say I have a few bits and bobs attached to my RPi like camera or Z-wave USB module

            I did extensive measurements of the current drawn from the RPI3 and you can actually run on 1A, the extra power depends on the devices you connect to it (if you count the 4USB ports it is potentially 4x0.5A = 2A, you add the 0.7A from the RPI3 itself and you end up in the 2.5/3A range)

            sundberg84S alexsh1A 2 Replies Last reply
            1
            • gohanG gohan

              @alexsh1 said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

              @gohan said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

              anyway 2A is more than enough for a Raspberry

              No, I do not think it is enough. They recommend 2.5A PSU for the latest RPI. I have 3A power supply for RPi3B. 2A was not enough, but I must say I have a few bits and bobs attached to my RPi like camera or Z-wave USB module

              I did extensive measurements of the current drawn from the RPI3 and you can actually run on 1A, the extra power depends on the devices you connect to it (if you count the 4USB ports it is potentially 4x0.5A = 2A, you add the 0.7A from the RPI3 itself and you end up in the 2.5/3A range)

              sundberg84S Offline
              sundberg84S Offline
              sundberg84
              Hardware Contributor
              wrote on last edited by
              #40

              @gohan cpu- load ?

              Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
              MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
              MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
              RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz

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              • gohanG Offline
                gohanG Offline
                gohan
                Mod
                wrote on last edited by
                #41

                0.7A at full CPU load, while in idle it is about 0.2/0.25A

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                • gohanG gohan

                  @alexsh1 said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

                  @gohan said in What's the "best" UPS for a Raspberry Pi 3B?:

                  anyway 2A is more than enough for a Raspberry

                  No, I do not think it is enough. They recommend 2.5A PSU for the latest RPI. I have 3A power supply for RPi3B. 2A was not enough, but I must say I have a few bits and bobs attached to my RPi like camera or Z-wave USB module

                  I did extensive measurements of the current drawn from the RPI3 and you can actually run on 1A, the extra power depends on the devices you connect to it (if you count the 4USB ports it is potentially 4x0.5A = 2A, you add the 0.7A from the RPI3 itself and you end up in the 2.5/3A range)

                  alexsh1A Offline
                  alexsh1A Offline
                  alexsh1
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #42

                  @gohan I did the same thing too. Only for my set-up. I am not interesting powering a bare RPi. 2.5A is not enough in my case - I am using 3A PSU. I suppose this is due to 20x4 screen I am running from the RPi together with other peripherals.

                  NeverDieN 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • alexsh1A alexsh1

                    @gohan I did the same thing too. Only for my set-up. I am not interesting powering a bare RPi. 2.5A is not enough in my case - I am using 3A PSU. I suppose this is due to 20x4 screen I am running from the RPi together with other peripherals.

                    NeverDieN Offline
                    NeverDieN Offline
                    NeverDie
                    Hero Member
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #43

                    @alexsh1 Which power supply are you using to supply the 3A?

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                    • rozpruwaczR Offline
                      rozpruwaczR Offline
                      rozpruwacz
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #44

                      I tested the UPS PIco HV3.0B HAT Stack. On Rpi 1B and 3B. And it works perfectly :) maybe installation of the software is not very easy and the documentation is not very clear but i think it is worth the effort. And I got it for half the price of rpi3. Another +1 is that it has additional 3.3V ldo that can supply 150mA, should be sufficient to power the nrf24l01+ pa/lna module :)

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                      • NeverDieN Offline
                        NeverDieN Offline
                        NeverDie
                        Hero Member
                        wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                        #45

                        Just thought I'd mention that last week we had a lightning strike that was close enough that it completely fried both my irrigation controller and also the UPS on my wife's computer. Her computer did survive it though. So, although the odds may seem remote, it does happen. How lithium batteries would react to a lightning strike is unknown to me, so that's one of the reasons why I've ruled them out for use in a UPS. Unfortunately, doing so does seem to narrow the options considerably.

                        alexsh1A 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • gohanG Offline
                          gohanG Offline
                          gohan
                          Mod
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #46

                          the battery is not the problem, but how the power supply will handle the voltage spike

                          alexsh1A 1 Reply Last reply
                          1
                          • NeverDieN NeverDie

                            Just thought I'd mention that last week we had a lightning strike that was close enough that it completely fried both my irrigation controller and also the UPS on my wife's computer. Her computer did survive it though. So, although the odds may seem remote, it does happen. How lithium batteries would react to a lightning strike is unknown to me, so that's one of the reasons why I've ruled them out for use in a UPS. Unfortunately, doing so does seem to narrow the options considerably.

                            alexsh1A Offline
                            alexsh1A Offline
                            alexsh1
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #47

                            @neverdie for the lightning protection I use a surge protection extension lead like this

                            https://www.amazon.ca/Belkin-6-Outlet-Commercial-Protector-Rotating/dp/B000JV3CKA

                            Additionally, UPS PIco has got the following protection:

                            • System Protection
                            • Direct Raspberry Pi® Hardware Reset Button via Spring Test Pin (pogo pin)
                            • Programmable Watch-Dog Hardware feature (Still Alive Timer)
                            • PPTC 2.6A fuse
                            • ZVD circuit on 5V GPIO connections
                            • Microcontroller watch-dog
                            • Over Temperature protection
                            • Over Current protection

                            Re PSU, this is the one I have

                            Raspberry Pi 3 Charger, Aukru 5V 3000mA Power Supply 3A Micro USB Charger for Raspberry Pi 3 Model B / Pi 2 Model B / B+ Plus, Banana pi https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B017YW2CKM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_o9d9AbBYH266F

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                            • gohanG gohan

                              the battery is not the problem, but how the power supply will handle the voltage spike

                              alexsh1A Offline
                              alexsh1A Offline
                              alexsh1
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #48

                              @gohan said in

                              how the power supply will handle the voltage spike

                              Not a problem - a good surge protection can handle it. I have all my electronic devices including router powered through the surge protected extension lead

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                              • siddarth sidS Offline
                                siddarth sidS Offline
                                siddarth sid
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #49

                                This thread is old, but still consists of the best suggestions for a Raspberry Pi UPS so adding my findings here.
                                Despite Pi being used for a lot of battery-powered projects, it's surprising to see that a well-defined UPS is not available.
                                While most of the above-suggested power boards will work fine, they lack form factor and customizability. I would rather take an open-source design and tweak it to my needs than just using a off-shelf black box.

                                So I am planning to improvise on this design called ["DIY Raspberry Pi UPS – An Uninterrupted Power Supply to Keep your Pi Safe during Power Failure"](DIY Raspberry Pi UPS – An Uninterrupted Power Supply to Keep your Pi Safe during Power Failure)

                                The author has provided both schematics and PCB layout so it should be easy to tweak the desing. The board is already designed to handle 1.5A (continous) and 3A (peak current) which would suffice well for my project. Though I could really use a software on/off feature like i should be able to shift between battery power and main power through a GPIO pin. Will share the design when I am until.

                                Until then if anyone has found better designs or features, please update me.
                                Power to you guys, thanks

                                zboblamontZ 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • siddarth sidS siddarth sid

                                  This thread is old, but still consists of the best suggestions for a Raspberry Pi UPS so adding my findings here.
                                  Despite Pi being used for a lot of battery-powered projects, it's surprising to see that a well-defined UPS is not available.
                                  While most of the above-suggested power boards will work fine, they lack form factor and customizability. I would rather take an open-source design and tweak it to my needs than just using a off-shelf black box.

                                  So I am planning to improvise on this design called ["DIY Raspberry Pi UPS – An Uninterrupted Power Supply to Keep your Pi Safe during Power Failure"](DIY Raspberry Pi UPS – An Uninterrupted Power Supply to Keep your Pi Safe during Power Failure)

                                  The author has provided both schematics and PCB layout so it should be easy to tweak the desing. The board is already designed to handle 1.5A (continous) and 3A (peak current) which would suffice well for my project. Though I could really use a software on/off feature like i should be able to shift between battery power and main power through a GPIO pin. Will share the design when I am until.

                                  Until then if anyone has found better designs or features, please update me.
                                  Power to you guys, thanks

                                  zboblamontZ Offline
                                  zboblamontZ Offline
                                  zboblamont
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #50

                                  @siddarth-sid Perhaps irrelevant since form-factor featured in your post, but...
                                  I put in a UPS which featured on Instructables a while back based on a MeanWell AD-55A PSU, which is still working since 2018. It's neither not neat or compact but has sailed through multiple power cuts suffered here with aplomb. Simple enough to wire up, no processing required, the SMPS does it all.
                                  Never did get round to powering the router from it as originally intended, but ain't dead yet...
                                  I think this links https://forum.mysensors.org/post/100533

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                                  • bjacobseB Offline
                                    bjacobseB Offline
                                    bjacobse
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #51

                                    I'm quite lazy, and use this approach and use a USB powerbank, and check if DHCP server is alive or dead (Dead= no 230V)

                                    https://raspi-ups.appspot.com/en/index.jsp

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