Before a storm, lower and stop Lutron shades in a safe position, leave the alarm panel and network gateway running on battery backup, and put the equipment rack and access control hub on uninterruptible power so they ride through flickers. Outdoor displays and non-essential AV should be powered down, while cameras, the alarm panel, and core networking gear should stay on protected power so you can still see and secure the house. Once utility power returns, bring systems back in a deliberate order — network first, then rack and control, then everything else — rather than letting everything restart at once.
Florida homeowners and property managers who already have Crestron, Lutron, and UniFi systems in place need a plan for storm day that goes beyond "charge the phones." The decisions below cover what to shut down, what to protect, and what to leave running, plus the order a technician should check things once the grid comes back.
What should be shut down before a hurricane?
Outdoor displays, exterior audio amplifiers, and any gear not rated for water intrusion should be powered off and, where possible, unplugged ahead of a storm. These devices add electrical load and offer no safety benefit if left running, and powering them down reduces the number of things that can be damaged by a surge riding in on the AC line. Motorized Lutron shades should be run to their storm position and then left without power demand — a shade mid-travel during an outage is a shade stuck in the wrong place.
This is also a good moment to confirm with your integrator which outdoor fixtures and speakers are rated for the exposure your property actually sees, since that answer varies by product and by how close the house sits to open water.
What should stay running through the storm?
Three things benefit from staying online through flickers and short outages: the network gateway, the alarm panel, and any access-control hub guarding exterior doors or gates. Alarm.com's architecture explains why the panel matters most — a monitored security system communicates over a dedicated cellular connection that does not depend on the home's broadband or Wi-Fi router, and the panel itself carries roughly 24 hours of battery backup, so it keeps reporting even after the power and the internet both go down. That's the layer that calls for help if something happens while nobody is home.
Ubiquiti's own guidance on UniFi Access confirms that access control can remain operational during a power outage, provided the hub sits behind a battery-backed power supply such as a UniFi Mission Critical switch or a UPS on the switch feeding it — door credentials stay synchronized locally even if the cloud console goes offline. Deep Sentinel's own support documentation recommends the same approach for live video monitoring: putting the cable modem/router, any network hubs, and the Deep Sentinel SmartHub on a UPS so connectivity survives a power interruption.
Why does the equipment rack need its own UPS?
A rack UPS isn't just insurance against a full outage — it rides out the voltage sags and brief drops that happen well before utility power actually fails, which is usually when networking gear, NVRs, and control processors get damaged. Ubiquiti's Mission Critical line is built around this idea: it's a PoE switch with an integrated battery that keeps powering connected devices through an interruption, and a separate Power Distribution unit can back an entire rack of UniFi equipment with remotely resettable outlets so a technician can power-cycle a stuck device without a site visit. For a property with a generator, the rack UPS is what keeps cameras and the network alive in the gap between utility power dropping and the generator picking up the load — a question worth raising directly with your electrical and security contractors before the system is ever finalized, since generator transfer timing varies by installation.
How do I watch the house remotely once I've evacuated?
The alarm panel's outage reporting is the first layer: Alarm.com sends a smartphone alert when a power outage at the property passes roughly ten minutes, and the app shows what percentage of nearby homes are also without power so you can tell a localized outage from a wider grid failure. You get a second alert the moment power is restored. For live visibility rather than status alerts, cameras need to stay on protected power and connected through the UPS-backed network and NVR described above — without that, recorded footage exists but nobody is watching it while the storm is active, and remote viewing simply drops along with the rest of the house.
What order should systems come back up after the storm?
Once utility power returns, check the network first — gateway, switches, and access points — because the rack, cameras, alarm reporting over broadband where applicable, and any cloud-dependent dashboards all depend on it. From there, confirm the rack's own UPS has recharged and the equipment it feeds has rebooted cleanly, then verify the alarm panel and access-control hub have reconnected and that door credentials match what they were before the outage. Shades, outdoor audio, and the remaining AV can come back last, since they're the systems with the least safety consequence if they're a few hours behind. A managed support program such as Cave Watch, which layers remote systems monitoring with Cave Watch Central alarm monitoring and Deep Sentinel live video, is built to catch and resolve exactly this kind of post-storm power-up sequence without the homeowner needing to be on site.
Cave Group designs residential systems for Florida properties around this kind of resilience from the start — UPS-backed racks, dedicated-cellular alarm panels, and UniFi networking sized so cameras and access control survive a brief outage rather than just a full one. The same storm-resilience questions apply whether the property sits on a finger canal or well inland; related planning considerations for other Florida markets are covered in the Vero Beach and Stuart waterfront automation guide.
Frequently asked questions
Should I unplug my equipment rack before a hurricane?
You don't need to unplug a rack that's already on a UPS, since the battery is designed to ride out flickers and brief outages. Ask your integrator whether your specific rack UPS and surge protection are rated to stay connected through a sustained outage, or whether certain devices should be shut down manually first.
Will my alarm system still work if the power and internet both go out?
Yes, if the panel uses a dedicated cellular connection rather than relying on broadband. Alarm.com's panels carry about 24 hours of battery backup and communicate over cellular specifically so they keep reporting even when the home's power, Wi-Fi, and phone line are all down.
Can I still watch my cameras remotely if I evacuate before the storm?
Only if the cameras, network gear, and NVR stay powered and connected, which generally requires a UPS on the modem, router, and any network hubs along with the camera system itself. Without protected power, remote viewing goes down with the rest of the house's network.
What should I do with motorized shades before a storm?
Run them to the position your integrator specifies as the storm position, then let the system settle rather than leaving shades mid-travel during a power interruption. A shade stuck partway through a cycle when power drops can be harder to clear once power returns.
In what order should systems be checked after power comes back?
Check the network gateway and access points first, then the rack's UPS and the equipment it feeds, then the alarm panel and access-control hub, and bring shades and the remaining AV back last. This order reflects the fact that most other systems — cameras, cloud dashboards, remote monitoring — depend on the network layer coming back cleanly first.