DSL Modem light off - FTTC Cabinet silent

Hi Everyone, at 12:30 today I lost Internet access and on inspection saw that the DSL light on my fiber model was off. I swapped this for my spare (ECI) and got the same. The phone its self is working fine.

Plusnet have recorded the fault as "CSC - FTTC Faults - No Sync "

Now, the interesting bit... I walked to my cabinet (400 m away or so) and it is completely silent. I could not hear any hum or fan noise at all - I listened at all sides as well as down at near ground level where there are lots of vents - absolute silence.

Do the cabs normally make at least some noise you should be able to hear from near them? - I had my ear pressed up against it but silence. (yes I did get a few strange looks from passers by).

I may go on a little drive to my next nearest one and see what noise (if any) that is making.

Finally, is there any way to point this out to BT - I guess at the moment it is just passed to them as user-no sync - but if the power to a cabinet has failed or something else is wrong with the entire cab I presume that would get higher fix priority than a single user.

It is warm here today (but not nearly as bad as earlier in the week) and we did have lightning and lots of rain last night, but it was a calm sunny day all day.

Thanks in advance,

Marcus

Do you know anyone on that cabinet with FTTC?

A silly question I know but you were listing at the FTTC cabinet rather than the PCP cabinet?

AFAIK BT Openreach monitor all of their FTTC cabs for just such a problem which should mean BTO are automatically aware of any cabinet fault.

Edited by deleted (Sat 04-Jul-15 21:14:46)

A cab losing power and going offline should be easily picked up by openreach monitoring

Find out if neighbours are in the same boat

In reply to a post by marcusjclifford:

I listened at all sides as well as down at near ground level where there are lots of vents - absolute silence.

PCPs don't have vents.

Definately the FTTC cabinet. I watched them commission it 18 months ago.

I did go and visit another FTTC cab a few streets away and that had the fan noise clearly audible so my cab definitely has an issue, as expected.

Let's hope BT come and fix it soon. I've not seen any neighbours to ask yet. I'll keep everyone updated.

That would be a very high priority fault, someone would be out within an hour to that I imagine. I hate to ask you silly questions but are you definitely at the correct fibre cabinet? Have you ever heard this one humming?

You're right though you should always hear the fans going, even in the middle of winter. They are never silent.

Yes, I'm sure it was the Fibre cabinet.

Pleased to report that my connection came back on this morning at 07:53, and the cabinet is humming away as it should be now.

So, technical question - the FTTC cabinets have battery backup don't they? We had the significant storm / lightning / rain at about 01:00 in the night, and the cabinet went off at 12:28 - does that about correspond to expected cabinet runtime?

Edited by marcusjclifford (Sun 05-Jul-15 21:34:10)

In reply to a post by marcusjclifford:

Yes, I'm sure it was the Fibre cabinet.

Pleased to report that my connection came back on this morning at 07:53, and the cabinet is humming away as it should be now.

So, technical question - the FTTC cabinets have batter backup

Breadcrumbs?

oops- typo corrected

These photos were taken when the FTTC cabinet was being placed / commissioned. (April 2014)

Photo 1: The FTTC cabinet that was silent, but now is humming as expected.
FTTC Cabinet Photo 1 (This was silent)


Photo 2: The three pieces of street furniture - left to right - the original cabinet, a Virgin media cabinet then far right the new FTTC cabinet.
The three cabinets

12 hours sounds about right.

I'm no expert in the power side of things but an OR employee in another thread on this forum has confirmed they have a 12 hour battery backup system. So that ties in with what has been said.

However, the cabinet should have alerted the monitoring centre (in Oswestry I guess) that it has lost mains supply using the telemetry line. The power issue should then have been fixed the morning following the power outage. Seems like terrible luck but maybe the telemetry line was faulty. Or maybe the power company just couldn't get anyone out in time.

Fibre is lit in both directions so the handover end should easily report the lack of light coming from the cabinet

If by the end of today people on this cabinet still have got nowhere with the respective providers then will dig a bit further.

When cabs go to battery power there is a procedure to turn up and swap out the battery/ies to maintain service, but this will be prioritised so if you have someone on a business SLA you might benefit.

Or Openreach is stretched to the absolute limit, by the pace of the BDUK roll-outs.

Thanks - as above it is all back working now (came back online at 07:53 on Sunday morning)

What is interesting is that there was no "general" power failure - I was fine and am only about 400m away from the cabinet. I guess it's possible the cab is fed from another grid. Or do the FTTC cabinets have a different (non standard) mains power supply?

I was still asleep on the Sunday morning at that time otherwise I would have dashed to the cab to see if anyone was actually physically there doing something.

Cabinets normally require a standard 230v 50Hz supply - exactly the same as domestic properties. It may be fed from te supply in use for local properties, or it could be taken from a supply being used for another road or small estate.

I know that "my" FTTC is taken from the general street lights and signs circuit, as about two days later, the one light and about three signs were removed, leaving a "bare" pole, which in conjunction witth some alterations to the other signs on the other poles at the same junction, has led to confusion.

A simple example is that there are Entering "20 MPH Zone" signs; but none cancelling them coming out.

I think BT/OR pay a fixed annual charge according to the size of the FTTC; but that does not explain the removal of the signs etc.

There is no obvious metering, only time switches for the street lights.

Edited by deleted (Tue 07-Jul-15 06:31:55)

I believe that OR and the distribution companies are no longer connecting to traffic signs - it was the case. I am sure I saw a works instruction on the subject a few months back.

Last year when I was driving home from work I noticed the front of the fibre cab near me was wide open and no sign of any Openreach vans. When I phoned Openreach to report it they were completely unaware of it, so the telemetry system obviously isn't that good.

"My" Fttc was connected to the traffic sign post, still complete with the signs and lamp, about February 2014, followed a few days later by the removal of those items.

Hole and concrete base started November 2013, FTTC active with first upgrades in late March 2014, with about 1 to days actual work phases about every two weeks.

=====================

Incidentally, the UK Mains Voltage remains effectively at 240 Volts; and generally in my locality runs higher around 245 to 250 Volts.

A few years back, I saw it reach 259 V, in the middle of winter - not happened recently.

Under the EU Harmonisation agreement, the UK is banded at 230 Volts +10% to -6%, so nominally can reach 253 V and drop to 216.2 Volts.

As we are isolated from the Continent, by the Underwater DC Connectors and also the large installed capacity from earlier years, technically it would be extremely difficult to alter or replace all of that installed generating power

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

Incidentally, the UK Mains Voltage remains effectively at 240 Volts; and generally in my locality runs higher around 245 to 250 Volts.

The nominal rate is 230V not 240V - and if you're doing any sort of calculations as an electrician you have to use 230V as the nominal not 240V. Our nominal rate changed in 1995 I believe offhand.

The supply you receive will vary for all kinds of reasons - for example our office has an average of 232.6V - but it is important that all calculations are done on the assumption of 230V.

In reply to a post by therioman:

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

Incidentally, the UK Mains Voltage remains effectively at 240 Volts; and generally in my locality runs higher around 245 to 250 Volts.

The nominal rate is 230V not 240V - and if you're doing any sort of calculations as an electrician you have to use 230V as the nominal not 240V. Our nominal rate changed in 1995 I believe offhand.

The supply you receive will vary for all kinds of reasons - for example our office has an average of 232.6V - but it is important that all calculations are done on the assumption of 230V.

You are lucky ... I have detected mine down at near 210v - out of tolerance!

I can always have a good guess at the voltage based on how long my toast takes and the colour of the elements!

Agreed that the "Normal" Voltage in the Harmonisation Rules is 230 Volts.

But if you read the Rules in detail, Europe is divided up in to three major areas-

UK and Ireland,

Western Europe

Eastern Europe.



This is to accommodate the historic and practical situation that-

240 Volts was previously their Mains Voltage - with the large installed capacity etc, which could not be changed "overnight".

230 Volts was similarly the Mains Voltage for France, (Western?) Germany, Italy Spain etc.

220 Volts was similarly the Mains Voltage was the various countries of Eastern Europe.


I also suspect that it is because of those significant differences that the applied adjective is "HARMONISATION", rather than "Standardisation".

-----------------------

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity
"
Voltage Levels
Most of Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and most of South America use a supply that is within 6% of 230 V.

In the UK and Australia[3] the nominal supply voltage is 230 V +10%/−6% to accommodate the fact that most supplies are in fact still 240 V.
(Separated for clarity)

Japan, Taiwan, North America and some parts of northern South America use a voltage between 100 V and 127 V. The 230 V standard has become widespread so that 230 V equipment can be used in most parts of the world with the aid of an adapter or a change to the equipment's connection plug for the specific country.
"

--------

http://www.claudelyons.co.uk/energy_saving.htm
"
European Voltage Harmonisation

The United Kingdom for many years had a standardised supply voltage of 240V ±6% (415V for three-phase) whereas continental Europe had a nominal supply level of 220V (380V). From 1 January 1995 the nominal voltage across Europe has been 'harmonised' at 230V/400V.


This is not a real change, since the former 240V countries, including the UK, have in the first stage of voltage harmonisation a tolerance of 230V -6% to +10% (i.e. 216.2 - 253V) as compared with the 'old' limits of 240V ±6% (i.e. 225.6 - 254.5V). However, the former 220V countries (most of Continental Europe) have limits of 230V -10% to +6% (207 - 243.8V).
The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002, which came into force on the 31st January 2003, replacing The Electricity Supply Regulations 1998, formally confirm the UK standardised supply voltage tolerances at 230V -6% to +10%. DECC, the Department for Energy and Climate Change has confirmed that this remains the UK position but is currently (April 2010) under review for a possible change to 230V ±10% in 2011.


Plans to harmonise the whole of Europe to 230V ±10% (i.e. 207 - 253V), which were due to be applied from 1st January 2003, were first postponed until 1st January 2008 and are now postponed indefinitely pending a consensus between the various parties. Despite this postponement, any equipment intended for use anywhere in Europe and carrying the 'CE' mark will have to be capable of working over this wide range.
"
===============

Regarding low voltages, i ahave seen the UK Mains Voltage down at about 190 Volts for several hours and days - but that was a way back in about 1953.