As someone who used to live in a stormy city, the sound of thunder immediately had me mashing the save button on my projects. Power outages were common during storms and without an uninterruptable power supply (UPS), everything shuts down without warning.
With the Pi-Zero-UpTime UPS for Pi or Pi clones, you can keep the power flowing, even when there’s an outage or interruption. It works like any other UPS and provides power from a backup battery that charges when there is power available.
A seamless transition between standard power and battery power ensures that you won’t need to reboot during the switch from one to the other. The hardware on the board monitors the battery level. When the battery level is low, GPIO pin 26 informs the software to change the state on the GPIO, using a sample code provided with the device.
The Pi-Zero-UpTime includes a micro-USB cable but does not include the battery. You will need to supply a 14500 size Lithium Ion battery. Depending on the one you choose, the time will vary. The sample code provided outputs the time stamp every 10 seconds so you can use this to run your own tests.
This device is compatible with any Raspberry Pi that has a 40-pin header. It’s approximately the size of a Pi Zero and even fits on top of a Pi-Zero with included mounting holes. An included Power Reset switch also allows you to reboot the Pi simply by resetting the power, so there’s no need to unplug anything. With a UPS device like this, you’ll never have to worry about an interruption in power again.
