DC UPS for fibre equipment

I've been looking for some time at making the fibre equipment more resilient to power issues.
Our supply is normally pretty good and then we will have a number of dropouts in the space of a few months and then return to normal.
There has been a lot of work ongoing in the local area so it may be solved but anyway, I think I have a use case for keeping the internet and subsequently, the VOIP working.

There doesn't appear to be much in the way of DC UPSs here in UK but in places where the power supply is not so reliable they seem quite common.

I found this unit which looks promising even if I have to replace the 18650s.

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I need to do some charge/discharge tests and see how long it lasts and also check the quality of the supplied cells.

If you are looking the usual places the search term is 60w mini UPS.

Edited by smouty (Sat 29-Apr-23 10:03:36)

What is is exactly that you’re planning to stand up with it - just the ONT or more than that?

The ONT, router and DECT telephone.
Maybe a switch and AP(s) depending on how long it will last.
Those devices would easily be within the 60w rating.

I currently have an unused Swish Velop router and a 4k Hikvision cam powered on battery which is 20% capacity.

Edited by smouty (Sat 29-Apr-23 10:59:24)

Sounds good. What’s the Wh rating of the device? I tried a little Eaton 3S DC UPS with just an ONT and it stood up well.

There a good blog guide here from TBB for anyone else reading:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/guides/how-to-stay-on...

It is using 8x 2200 mAh so 17600.

As the seal was already broken I opened it up.
Looks like a high quality PCB and just need to check the cells.

It also has a UART so it may be possible to get some stats out of it.

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My ISP (No-One Was Trunk Networks) gave me a APC BX500CI when I joined then, as we do not get a phone signal, rural and get power cuts, our age makes us vulnerable.

I already have an AC to DC UPS and wanted something more efficient.

In reply to a post by smouty:

I found this unit which looks promising even if I have to replace the 18650s.

The "usual places": Amazon? Ebay? Alibaba??

Is it one of these?
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Mini-UPS-2200...
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/SKE-UPS-Manuf...

It is the first one but you can order them singly on Aliexpress.

The image on the Aliexpress item doesn’t match what was delivered although the specs are the same.
It looks like it has been revised as the PCB says v3.2. It is quite a bit smaller - 170x200mm instead of 200x250mm.

It ran a Velop router and 4k Hikvision cam for 4+ hrs.

Edited by smouty (Sat 29-Apr-23 21:15:16)

It's a good job the front panel labels the fan, LCD screen, and switch. I'd be lost without having that pointed out.

I noticed the serial number on the unit and the box are the same. I wonder if that means every unit has the same serial number or there is some actual QC.

The handbook is a basic two sider but makes sense at least.

The 18650 cells are made by a company called Wintonic who I've never heard of and there doesn't appear to be much info regarding their cells so these will likely need to be replaced but they do at least appear to have the stated capacity e.g. not massively overinflated.

Think I’d prefer LFP chemistry instead of 18650s but they don’t seem to make any products like this with them unless you go for a power station type device.

It is running my Proxmox host (OPNSense) and ONT fine.
I will need to make up a cable for the phone which uses RJ11 for power and work out what to do with the AP and switch.
I could try running the AP through the UPS as it has a port for this.

https://i.imgur.com/1UUEX1O.jpg

They will probably be rewraps of another brands cells as there aren't that many manufacturers.
In my experience Samsung, Sony and LG make the best cells.
If you want to get them from a UK supplier look at vape sellers like the one below.

Link

Thanks
Dan

Yeah. Fogstar come highly recommended. I know of them from ebike forums.

The approach I take is to stick a PoE switch in and then power everything off the switch. Then protect the switch with an old beige APC Back-UPS mi models. You can get them quite cheaply off eBay. Those things are built like tanks and just last forever, accepting the batteries do need replacing from time to time.