Monitoring for power failure supporting critical machines or appliances can be accomplished wirelessly and integrated into a building automation or management system. This can be especially important for GFCI outlets that can trip off for various reasons. Powercast’s contact closure (digital input) sensor has two input ports for monitoring external contacts. When coupled with a power alert dry contact, the status can be relayed to a wireless gateway and provided to a BAS/BMS to log the outage and send alerts.

Solution Components

Implementing a wired sensor solution is prohibitively expensive for existing buildings. In addition, the disruption to occupant living space can be a coordination and construction nightmare. Wireless sensors, on the other hand, provide a more cost effective and occupant-friendly implementation approach. They can be installed in seconds to a few minutes and there is no construction mess. ...]]> Apartment buildings, especially older buildings with boiler systems, can have unique challenges for balancing competing goals of occupant comfort and lowering operating costs. Instrumenting a building with HVAC sensors, potentially each apartment unit, can provide a comprehensive building footprint from which to better optimize energy consumption and lower costs. The apartment sensor can be combined with outside measurements into a Building Automation System, or just a small controller, which can make more intelligent and predictive decisions for boiler control.

Implementing a wired sensor solution is prohibitively expensive for existing buildings. In addition, the disruption to occupant living space can be a coordination and construction nightmare. Wireless sensors, on the other hand, provide a more cost effective and occupant-friendly implementation approach. They can be installed in seconds to a few minutes and there is no construction mess. The primary challenge with wireless sensors has been battery life, with most devices operating for only 3-5 years before the batteries need to be replaced. Scheduling time and expense for battery replacement can not only be expensive, but also a nuisance to occupants.

Powercast’s wireless sensors can operate for over 25 years on a single battery (test report) and effectively eliminate battery replacement. This means there is only a quick, one-time visit to the apartment unit to install a sensor, or it can be easily added to a routine maintenance call until all units are equipped.

As a network-based solution, data from up to 100 devices can be received by a single wireless gateway (WSG-101/102) and made available to a building automation system or system controller. Wireless range for a 900MHz system is up to 300 feet indoors, and range can be extended to unlimited distance using wireless repeaters.