Problem

We have a job site where power outages occur more often than we’d like. The site engineer and other key staff members need to know when the power fluctuates while they work out a more robust back up power system for their construction requirements. Naturally, we have an APC UPS on site for our network equipment. Why not use that as a monitoring device and get messages to our enginners.

Solution

I used our Twilio connector and a Shared Mailbox trigger to send SMS messages to the site engineers. I could have sent emails, but who’s inbox isn’t swamped with noise? Plus, the site is in a remote area, and SMS is more reliable than email.

The Alerts

  • Critical alert when the UPS has less than 5 minutes of battery.
  • Informational alert when the UPS first goes on battery. Power sags happen often at this site, so this isn’t a true indicator of an outage.
  • Informational alert when the UPS goes off battery. This is an all clear message that the event has ended.

PowerAutomate Configuration

Components
  • Twilio Connector
  • Outlook Connector
  • APC configured to send email alerts to a shared mailbox
The Flow

The Flow It looks complicated but isn’t really.

  • Monitor a Shared Mailbox for messages from APC.

  • A ContactList array of mobile numbers used later in the Flow.

    • A note here, double quotes are used for the numbers. Array Example

  • Conditions that match subject line to the type of alert that will be sent.

    • My main condition checks for an email message with a subject containing “UPS Low Battery.” This indicates the power has been out for several minutes.
    • In the If No of the main condition, I check the message for a subject containing “UPS on Battery.” This indicates the UPS just went on battery.
    • In the If No of my “UPS on Battery”, I check the message for a subject containing “Power Restored”.

  • Apply to each to send messages based on the type of alert. I use a time stamp at the beginning of each message to give a better sense of when the alert happened. Apply To Each Example

Code Snippets of Interest

Expression to take current time and convert to Pacific Standard Time.