Dmytro Panin's Blackout Monitor Uses an ePaper Display to Log, Predict Power Outages

Ukrainian maker Dmytro Panin has put together a tool designed to keep track of and potentially predict recurring power outages — using a Raspberry Pi Pico and an ePaper display to show when power was lost and restored.

"I've built a device to keep track and try to predict rolling blackouts in my neighborhood," Panin explains. "This allows my household to make better short term plans. The device is powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico."

With Ukrainian infrastructure currently damaged by the ongoing war, the energy system is under strain — and blackouts both unexpected and scheduled are commonplace. By tracking power outages, Panin's gadget allows for patterns to be monitored — and energy usage tailored accordingly, by moving mealtimes to a known-stable period as an example.

The software is written in MicroPython and is pretty straightforward: the Raspberry Pi Pico keeps an eye on the time using a battery-backed DS3231 real-time clock. If the power is lost, the clock keeps ticking — and when it's restored, the time the power went down and came back up can be written to a log.

To make the device more useful during the outage itself, Panin used an ePaper display add-on for the Raspberry Pi Pico — which uses electrophoretic display technology to draw power only when changing states. Even when power is lost, the last-printed information remains on-screen.

Instructions on building the power outage logger are available on Panin's GitHub repository.