Low-cost Remote Monitoring System for Small-Scale UPS Installations in Developing Countries

Traditionally, IoT (Internet of Things) integrated power monitoring systems have been implemented utilizing commercially available products. However, these are generally too costly to be implemented in isolated locations for humanitarian relief organizations. Therefore, there was a need to develop a cost-effective method of monitoring power nodes that is capable of interfacing with pre-existing monitoring networks so that companies can easily integrate these smaller nodes into their preexisting monitoring mainframes. To do this a Raspberry Pi was used in conjunction with a Hall-effect sensor and Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) as these components are readily available. Monitoring was achieved by reporting hardware collected values to Paessler Router Traffic Grapher (PRTG), which is a widely used network attached monitoring service, via a python script creating and uploading a JSON string to the PRTG server. This paper demonstrates the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a UPS remote monitoring system using an ACS712 current, the ADS1115 analog-digital converter, a Raspberry Pi, and PRTG.