One of the questions we get most in Medellín is what happens to an automated home when the power goes out. A house that depends on electronics has to be designed to lose power and come back without you fixing anything.

This guide covers how outages work in the city, what happens to each part of a smart home, and how to design so the cut barely registers.

How outages look in Medellín

In the Aburrá Valley there are, roughly, three kinds of interruption:

1. Scheduled suspensions. EPM maintains the grid and publishes affected sectors and hours in advance. They last a few hours and can be planned for.
2. Weather-related failures. In rainy seasons, with strong thunderstorms, there are short cuts — sometimes several in the same afternoon.
3. Internal building failures. A transformer, a generator that doesn't start, a breaker in the main panel. They affect one tower, not the whole sector.

If the lights go out, the first step is knowing which kind it is. Check your panel and ask in the building group whether neighbors are also without service. If it's the sector, report it to EPM on the 44 44 115 line or in the Estamos ahí app, and keep the report number.

What happens to each part of the home

The controller and the network

The controller holds the home's logic; the router connects everything. If they shut off, the house stops making decisions until they return. The bigger problem isn't the outage so much as the return: if the router is slow to boot, some devices don't find the network and stay disconnected.

Sensors

Many sensors run on batteries, so they stay active during the outage. They keep measuring temperature, detecting motion, and logging whether a door opened. If the controller has backup power, it can keep receiving that data.

Blinds and curtains

Motors on mains power stop wherever they are. Battery motors keep working. If the outage hits mid-movement, the house needs to know where the blind ended up when power returns.

Air conditioning

Some mini-splits resume in the last state; others stay off. If the AC is controlled with an infrared emitter — as we explain in smart air conditioning without replacing your mini-split — the house can check the room temperature and send the right command.

Locks and access

Smart locks run on batteries and almost all have a mechanical key or an emergency power point. During an outage the door still opens with the code or fingerprint. What you lose, if the router is off, is the phone alert.

Cameras

Without power or internet, cameras stop recording or uploading video. If security is a priority, the most important cameras should be on the backup.

How to design a home that resumes on its own

1. Small backup for the essentials

You don't need to back up the whole house. The essentials are few and draw little:

• Router and modem.
• Home controller.
• One or two key cameras.

A small UPS keeps those running through short outages, which are the majority. For long or very frequent cuts, larger batteries or solar with storage get evaluated — but for automation itself, a small backup is usually enough.

2. Logic runs locally

The house must not depend on the internet to function. If the ISP goes down with the power — common in storms — routines keep running inside the home. Internet is for controlling from outside, not for the house to think.

3. Ordered startup

When power returns, the house should:

1. Wait a few minutes for the grid to stabilize. Surges on return are what damage equipment most.
2. Confirm the router and controller are online.
3. Check the state of each device: blinds, lights, AC.
4. Resume the scene that fits the time. If it was eleven at night, the night scene. If it was daytime and nobody is home, away mode.

4. Don't turn everything on at once

If every light, the AC, and other loads start in the same second, the current spike can trip a breaker again. Good programming brings them up in stages.

5. Tell you only what matters

You don't need five notifications for a ten-minute outage. One message when power returns is enough: "Power back at 15:42. The house resumed the afternoon scene." And an alert only if something didn't respond.

Protecting equipment when the power returns

The delicate moment isn't when the lights go out — it's when they come back. A few simple measures:

• Surge protectors for TVs, computers, the fridge, and the AC.
• Delayed start on equipment that supports it.
• Review the installation if breakers trip often. When in doubt, a certified electrician should check the panel, as EPM itself recommends.

An automated home can help here: it shuts down large loads when it detects the outage and brings them back in order once power has been stable for a few minutes.

Buildings: what depends on the co-ownership

In many Medellín buildings there's a generator for common areas: elevators, water pumps, doorman station, hallway lighting. It usually doesn't feed the apartments. Worth asking management:

• What the generator covers and how long it takes to start.
• Whether the intercom and vehicle access still work during an outage.
• Whether there are scheduled suspensions for the building's own maintenance.

With that information you design a better response for your home. For example, if parking access doesn't work during an outage, the house can warn you before you arrive.

Scheduled suspensions, used to your advantage

Because EPM announces planned outages in advance, the house can prepare: lower blinds if the cut falls on a sunny afternoon, cool the room a bit beforehand, or remind you to charge what you need. It's a small example of what a home that gets ahead looks like.

In short

A power outage doesn't have to scramble a smart home. With a small backup for the essentials, local logic, and ordered startup, the house returns on its own to where it was. You only find out because you get a message.

To see the rest of what you can automate, read the Medellín home automation guide or book a visit.