FTTC cabinet power

I think I read somewhere that FTTC cabinets have their own UPS, does anyone know how long they can maintain power to the kit?

Reason- I've got a scheduled power outage in a few days while the leccie board upgrades the local substation. I was thinking that if I turn a few things off, and they don't take all day over it, my UPS might manage to run the modem for long enough thus avoiding any DLM shenanigans... but if the cabinet is likely to go down there's not much point!

In reply to a post by billford:

I think I read somewhere that FTTC cabinets have their own UPS, does anyone know how long they can maintain power to the kit?

Reason- I've got a scheduled power outage in a few days while the leccie board upgrades the local substation. I was thinking that if I turn a few things off, and they don't take all day over it, my UPS might manage to run the modem for long enough thus avoiding any DLM shenanigans... but if the cabinet is likely to go down there's not much point!

Presumably that would also depend on how/where the Cabinets draw their primary power from!!

Presumably if it is ultimately fed from the Exchange (rather than a local Leccie-Board feed), the the UPS maybe just a "Brown-Out" protection with the bulk of the support coming from the Exchange!

(In other words, I haven't got a clue to your original question - just speculating that it may be configured differently! ).

The power is from the local power supply network.
The batteries should last a minimum of 4 hours but typically will last longer depending on the cabinet load, for example how many cards and connections there are.

In reply to a post by johnjburness:

In reply to a post by billford:

I think I read somewhere that FTTC cabinets have their own UPS, does anyone know how long they can maintain power to the kit?

Reason- I've got a scheduled power outage in a few days while the leccie board upgrades the local substation. I was thinking that if I turn a few things off, and they don't take all day over it, my UPS might manage to run the modem for long enough thus avoiding any DLM shenanigans... but if the cabinet is likely to go down there's not much point!

Presumably that would also depend on how/where the Cabinets draw their primary power from!!

Presumably if it is ultimately fed from the Exchange (rather than a local Leccie-Board feed), the the UPS maybe just a "Brown-Out" protection with the bulk of the support coming from the Exchange!

(In other words, I haven't got a clue to your original question - just speculating that it may be configured differently! ).

Cabinets pick up their power from any local buried 230v cable - it is just T'd in as any house, lamppost, bus stop, traffic lights &c. Running from an exchange would require totally separate ducts from the phone wires and fibre. The only possibility is if the cabinet is within yards of the exchange.

As for te longevity of the UPS - will certainly depend on the number of active circuits, also how much use they are making and the temperature that day - warm day, cooling fans run.

In reply to a post by Ribble:

The batteries should last a minimum of 4 hours but typically will last longer depending on the cabinet load

That's longer than my UPS is likely to manage so I can leave that out of consideration, thanks.

Why would there be any DLM shennanigans for a one-off lengthy disconnection?

There shouldn't, but I don't know what might happen if the cabinet also went down, then both came back up (ie rebooted) simultaneously. Also, my modem is one of the very early ones which didn't get swapped out for some reason- I prefer to avoid power cycling it unnecessarily.

What I end up doing depends whether I feel like chancing it, which will probably depend on which side of the bed I get out of on the relevant morning

Edited by billford (Wed 31-Jul-13 13:03:53)

In reply to a post by billford:

I think I read somewhere that FTTC cabinets have their own UPS, does anyone know how long they can maintain power to the kit?

Reason- I've got a scheduled power outage in a few days while the leccie board upgrades the local substation. I was thinking that if I turn a few things off, and they don't take all day over it, my UPS might manage to run the modem for long enough thus avoiding any DLM shenanigans... but if the cabinet is likely to go down there's not much point!

It is 6 hours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53NcsctuxV0

Edited by deleted (Wed 31-Jul-13 13:13:43)

sounds like an ideal time to get some stats as to how much crosstalk affects your line.

if you have an unlocked modem then just seeing the change in max attainable rate would be a good indicator.

I haven't unlocked it- I'm about 450 metres from the cabinet with a profile of 69 point odd Mbps, so I'm not too bothered

In reply to a post by billford:

I haven't unlocked it- I'm about 450 metres from the cabinet with a profile of 69 point odd Mbps, so I'm not too bothered

Until your speed drops to 17 down and 2 up!

In reply to a post by systemx:

It is 6 hours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53NcsctuxV0

Interesting... the scheduled outage is from 08:30 to 16:00. I rang them to see if they'd tell me how long they expected the work to actually take- to my mild surprise they did.

Assuming no problems, they expected power to back on by 14:00, getting marginal if the cabinet is affected?

Coincidentally, while I was on the phone a leaflet arrived through the door postponing the work for about a fortnight. Can't help but wonder if the delay is to give OpenReach time to find some bigger batteries

eta: but it solves one problem- my UPS doesn't stand a chance

Edited by billford (Thu 01-Aug-13 11:03:03)

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by systemx:

It is 6 hours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53NcsctuxV0

Interesting... the scheduled outage is from 08:30 to 16:00. I rang them to see if they'd tell me how long they expected the work to actually take- to my mild surprise they did.

Assuming no problems, they expected power to back on by 14:00, getting marginal if the cabinet is affected?

Coincidentally, while I was on the phone a leaflet arrived through the door postponing the work for about a fortnight. Can't help but wonder if the delay is to give OpenReach time to find some bigger batteries

eta: but it solves one problem- my UPS doesn't stand a chance

We did have an outage for about eight hours last month for switching maintenance and this caused no problems with my BT Infinity. I did leave it a few mins before stating the modem just to let everyones fridges and frezers restart and the supply to steady