What Happens During a Power Outage

Overview

Power outages happen. Whether it is a summer storm, a winter ice event, or a utility company performing maintenance, losing power is a normal part of homeownership. If you have Shipshape monitoring in your home, you might wonder what happens to your sensors, your gateway, and SAM while the power is out.

The short answer: everything pauses, and everything comes back automatically when power returns. Here is the longer explanation.

What Happens When the Power Goes Out

When your home loses electricity, here is what happens to each piece of your Shipshape monitoring system:

The Gateway

The gateway is the central hub that connects all your sensors to the cloud. It needs both power and internet to function.

• When power goes out, the gateway shuts down immediately.
• It does not have an internal battery backup.
• Without the gateway running, sensor data cannot reach SAM or the Shipshape app.
• This is completely normal. The gateway is designed to handle power interruptions gracefully.

Your Internet Router

Your internet router also loses power during an outage (unless it has a battery backup). Even if the gateway had its own battery, it would still need internet to communicate with the cloud.

• No internet means no cloud connection, regardless of what else has power.
• Some internet providers (fiber, cable) have equipment that also requires power. Even if your router has a battery backup, the ISP's local equipment may not.

Smart Power Plugs

Smart power plugs lose power along with the appliances they monitor. This is expected.

• The plug and the appliance both go dark during the outage.
• The plug does not draw from or provide any backup power.
• When power returns, the plug powers back on automatically and reconnects to the gateway.

Battery-Powered Sensors (Leak Detectors, Temperature Sensors)

This is where it gets interesting. Battery-powered sensors continue to operate during a power outage because they run on their own CR123A batteries, not your home's electricity.

• Leak detectors remain active and will detect water if a leak occurs.
• Temperature sensors continue recording ambient conditions.
• However, because the gateway is down, these sensors cannot send alerts to SAM or your phone during the outage.
• Some sensors store recent readings locally and will sync that data when the gateway comes back online. This means SAM can review what happened during the outage after the fact.

SAM

SAM lives in the cloud, so it is always running. But without data flowing from your gateway, SAM cannot monitor your home in real time during an outage.

• SAM cannot send real-time alerts while your gateway and internet are offline.
• Once everything reconnects, SAM reviews the incoming data and may send you a summary of what happened during the outage.
• If sensors recorded noteworthy events (like a temperature drop or a leak detection), SAM flags those for your attention once connectivity is restored.

What Happens When Power Returns

The good news: everything reconnects automatically. You do not need to do anything in most cases.

Here is the typical recovery timeline:

Minutes 0 to 2: Power Restored

• Your internet modem and router begin their startup process.
• The gateway receives power and starts booting.
• Smart power plugs receive power and begin reconnecting.

Minutes 2 to 3: Internet Comes Back

• Your router finishes booting and reestablishes your internet connection.
• This step can take longer if your ISP's local equipment also lost power. In some cases, internet recovery takes 5 to 15 minutes after your power returns.

Minutes 3 to 5: Gateway Reconnects

• The gateway connects to your router via ethernet.
• It checks in with Shipshape's cloud servers.
• The gateway status in the app changes from "Offline" to "Online."

Minutes 5 to 10: Sensors Reconnect

• Smart power plugs reconnect to the gateway automatically.
• Battery-powered sensors wake up during their next reporting cycle and reconnect.
• Sensors that stored data during the outage begin syncing it to the gateway.
• You may see devices transition from "Offline" to "Online" one by one over several minutes. This is normal.

Within 30 Minutes: Full Recovery

• All sensors should be back online and reporting normally.
• SAM reviews the backlog of data and sends any relevant notifications.
• Your Home Health Score updates to reflect current conditions.

What You Might See in the App

After a power outage, you may notice a few things in the Shipshape app:

• Brief "Offline" status for some devices. As sensors reconnect at different speeds, some may show offline for a few minutes after others are already back. This clears on its own.
• A gap in data charts. If you look at historical temperature or energy graphs, you will see a gap during the outage period. This is expected since no data was being transmitted during that time.
• A notification from SAM. SAM may send a message summarizing the outage duration, which devices were affected, and whether anything unusual was detected by battery-powered sensors during the outage.

Troubleshooting After a Power Outage

Most of the time, everything comes back on its own. If something does not recover, try these steps:

A Device Stays Offline After 30 Minutes

1. Check your internet first. Open a browser on your phone. If you cannot load a webpage, your internet has not fully recovered yet. Wait for it to come back, or restart your router.
2. Check the gateway. Is it showing online in the app? If not, try power-cycling it: unplug it for 30 seconds, plug it back in, and wait 3 minutes.
3. Check individual sensors. If the gateway is online but a specific sensor is not:
   • Smart power plug: Press the button on the plug to toggle it off and on. Wait 1 to 2 minutes. Also check that the outlet it is plugged into has power (some outlets are on circuits that trip separately).
   • Battery sensor: The battery may have been low before the outage. Open the battery compartment and replace the CR123A battery.

Everything Is Offline Even Though Power Is Back

This usually means your internet connection has not recovered:

1. Check for indicator lights on your modem and router. Are they on and showing normal status?
2. Restart the modem first (unplug 30 seconds, replug). Wait 2 minutes.
3. Restart the router (unplug 30 seconds, replug). Wait 2 minutes.
4. Test your internet by browsing on your phone.
5. Once internet is confirmed working, restart the gateway. It should connect within 3 minutes.
6. If your internet remains down, contact your ISP. The outage may have affected their local infrastructure.

SAM Sent an Alert About Something During the Outage

Battery-powered sensors (especially leak detectors) may have detected something while the power was out. If SAM sends a post-outage alert about a water leak or a temperature anomaly:

• Take it seriously. Go check the location the sensor monitors.
• A leak detector that triggered during a storm could indicate water intrusion.
• A temperature sensor showing a dramatic drop could mean your HVAC did not restart properly.

Keeping Monitoring Active During Outages

If uninterrupted monitoring is important to you, there is a way to keep Shipshape running through short power outages.

Battery Backup (UPS) Setup

A small uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can keep your internet router and Shipshape gateway running during outages lasting 30 minutes to several hours, depending on the UPS capacity.

What you need:

• A UPS with enough capacity for your router and gateway. A basic unit rated for 400 to 600 VA is typically sufficient. These cost $40 to $80 at most electronics retailers.
• Plug your internet modem, router, and Shipshape gateway into the UPS battery-backed outlets.

What this gives you:

• Continuous internet and gateway connectivity during short outages.
• SAM can continue receiving data from battery-powered sensors and sending alerts.
• Smart power plugs will still go offline (they lose power with the appliance), but leak and temperature sensors will keep reporting.

What this does not cover:

• Extended outages beyond the UPS battery life.
• Smart power plug monitoring (those need household electricity).
• If your ISP's local equipment also loses power, your internet may go down regardless of your home equipment staying on.

Cellular Backup Internet

For homes where power outages are frequent or monitoring is mission-critical (vacation homes, rental properties), some homeowners pair a UPS with a cellular hotspot as backup internet. If your primary internet goes down, the gateway can use the cellular connection to stay in touch with SAM.

This is an advanced setup. Talk to your service professional if you are interested in exploring this option.

Key Takeaways

• Power outages temporarily pause Shipshape monitoring. This is normal and expected.
• Battery-powered sensors (leak detectors, temperature sensors) continue operating during outages, but cannot send alerts until the gateway is back online.
• Everything reconnects automatically when power returns. Most systems are back within 5 to 10 minutes.
• If devices stay offline for more than 30 minutes after power returns, check your internet connection first, then the gateway, then individual sensors.
• A small UPS on your router and gateway can keep monitoring running through short outages.
• SAM will catch you up on anything noteworthy that happened while the system was offline.

Quick Reference

| Component | During Outage | After Power Returns | |---|---|---| | Gateway | Off (no backup battery) | Auto-reconnects in 3 to 5 minutes | | Smart power plugs | Off (no power) | Auto-reconnect in 5 to 10 minutes | | Leak sensors | Active (battery powered) | Sync stored data to gateway | | Temperature sensors | Active (battery powered) | Sync stored data to gateway | | SAM | Running (cloud-based) but no data | Reviews backlog, sends summary | | Your appliances | Off (no power) | Restart per their normal behavior |