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.

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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.