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Reserve Your Seat TodayPower problems at remote sites rarely announce themselves. A rectifier fails, a battery string starts overcharging, a generator burns through its fuel over five days. By the time anyone notices, the damage is done or the site is already dark. Remote power monitoring gives you visibility into exactly what's happening at every site, continuously, so you can respond before a problem becomes an outage.
At DPS Telecom, we've built remote power monitoring equipment used by 1,500+ organizations across telecom, electric utilities, government, and other critical infrastructure sectors. We've manufactured and deployed 172,800+ devices across networks of every size.
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A complete power monitoring system collects real-time data from every component in your power chain. This includes:
If your sites include UPS systems, our UPS monitoring best practices guide covers the key configuration differences.
Monitoring the voltage outputs from your rectifier, generator, and battery plants will tell you if any one is outside its proper range. Some RTUs even have internally wired analogs, so you can automatically monitor the power feeding into their own inputs.
Most organizations don't skip power monitoring intentionally. They just underestimate how quietly things can go wrong.
Here's an example from a public-safety radio operator: a rectifier failure cut off commercial power at a remote site. The backup battery plant and generator were both fully charged, so there was no immediate threat. The problem? No one knew the rectifier had failed.
The generator ran continuously for five days, exhausted its fuel supply, and the site went dark before anyone found out. If basic power monitoring had been in place, an alert would have gone out the moment commercial power went offline, not five days later.
We hear similar stories regularly at DPS Telecom. Another common scenario: a failed rectifier outputs voltage far too high for the battery string. The batteries overcharge and physically fail, with gel cells expanding inside their metal trays. Replacing the battery string is expensive; extracting cells that have swollen into their enclosures adds significant labor cost on top of that.
Both of these failures are detectable with a single analog voltage input on a NetGuardian RTU.
A remote power monitoring system has two main components working together.
RTUs at each site
Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) are the devices physically installed at your sites. They connect to your power equipment, including rectifiers, battery plants, generators, and DC distribution, via analog inputs, contact closure inputs, and protocol interfaces like Modbus. When a reading goes outside a configured threshold, the RTU sends an alert.
For sites with fewer than 10 locations, an RTU's built-in web interface can serve as your entire monitoring system. You log in, set your alarm thresholds, and receive email or text alerts directly.
A central alarm master for larger networks
Once you're managing more than 10 sites, you need a central aggregator. An alarm master collects data from all of your RTUs and displays it in one place, typically on a geographic map view, so you can see the status of your entire network at a glance.
DPS Telecom's T/Mon alarm master supports 30+ protocols and integrates with both our own NetGuardian RTUs and legacy third-party equipment. For organizations already using SolarWinds or another SNMP manager, our RTUs report into those platforms as well, as covered in our SolarWinds-compatible RTU guide.
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Our NetGuardian RTUs support AC and DC power monitoring out of the box. Here's what a typical power monitoring configuration looks like across our clients' sites:
| Power Component | What We Monitor |
|---|---|
| Rectifier | Voltage output, major alarm contact closure, failure status |
| Battery plant | Voltage levels, charge status, individual string health |
| Generator | Run status, oil pressure, run time, fuel level, failed starts, engine temperature |
| Commercial power | On/off status, AC voltage |
| DC distribution | Per-circuit voltage and fuse status via Smart Fuse Panel |
| UPS systems | Input/output voltage, bypass status, alarm contacts |
NetGuardian RTUs support analog inputs via 0-5VDC or 4-20mA interfaces, compatible with sensors and equipment from a wide range of manufacturers. Where protocol data is available (Modbus from a generator, SNMP from a UPS), the RTU can pull that data directly.
Our battery monitoring best practices guide covers eight field-tested implementation strategies for getting the most out of these inputs.
Monitoring tells you what's happening. Control lets you act on it without rolling a truck.
DPS Telecom's Smart Fuse Panel and remote power switch products let you power cycle equipment, reset circuits, and manage DC loads remotely. Key capabilities include:
For telecom and utility organizations managing dozens or hundreds of remote sites, resolving power issues remotely means fewer truck rolls for problems that don't require a technician on-site.
You can see the full range of options on our power distribution product page.
Talk to an Engineer | 800-693-0351
Power monitoring requirements vary by industry, but the underlying need is the same: know what's happening at your remote sites before equipment fails or sites go dark. For a closer look at why these failures go undetected, see our breakdown of how power monitoring prevents invisible site failures.
DPS Telecom builds power monitoring systems for:
Our equipment is manufactured in Fresno, CA and has been deployed across more than 9,800 custom configurations. We work with organizations ranging from small counties with 3-4 tower sites to major utilities and carriers monitoring 1,000+ locations.
Talk to an Engineer | 800-693-0351
Remote power monitoring is the continuous collection of power data, including AC and DC voltages, battery state, and rectifier and generator status, from unmanned sites, with automated alerts sent when readings go outside normal thresholds.
NetGuardian RTUs can monitor -48 VDC, +24 VDC, and other voltages via analog inputs. They support both 0-5VDC and 4-20mA sensor interfaces for compatibility with a wide range of power equipment.
Yes. NetGuardian RTUs monitor generator run status, oil pressure, fuel levels, failed start events, and engine temperature via discrete contact closures and Modbus protocol connections. Generator alarms can trigger email, SMS, or SNMP trap notifications automatically.
For fewer than 10 sites, individual RTU web interfaces are typically sufficient. For larger networks, a central alarm master like T/Mon aggregates data from all sites into one view, supports escalation procedures, and provides a geographic map of alarm status.
NetGuardian RTUs report to SolarWinds, IBM OpenView, Castle Rock, and any standard SNMP manager. DPS Telecom also supports DNP3, Modbus, TL1, and 30+ additional protocols for integration with SCADA and legacy systems.
Whether you're monitoring 5 sites or 500, we'll help you figure out the right configuration. DPS Telecom offers a 30-day loaner program (you cover shipping) so you can evaluate equipment in your own environment before committing.
