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Author Topic: OFCOM Power back-up requirements  (Read 3847 times)

waltergmw

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OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« on: June 29, 2011, 06:16:49 AM »

Gentlefolk,

This note seems interesting but only seems to cover the EU's equipment on fibre connections. It is suggesting reducing the power-up time to 1 hour to allow the EU's to make emergency calls should the emergency be the result of the power cut (amongst other things).
They seem to be overlooking the fact that many rural power outages happen much more frequently and are of a much longer duration than those in urban areas. After storms it can be days before remote rural power is fully restored.
I believe they have fallen into the trap of saying mobiles can be used in an emergency which might work if:-

a) you happen to be in an area with coverage

b) the mobile network isn't affected by the same power outage - I don't believe many nodes have their own standby power but please tell me if I'm wrong.

Perhaps someone can tell me if there are similar regulations for FTTC cabinets etc. , because if not there should be !

Kind regards,
Walter

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/superfast-broadband/?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=superfast-broadband
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burakkucat

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2011, 05:37:54 PM »

Quote
I believe they have fallen into the trap of saying mobiles can be used in an emergency which might work if:-

a) you happen to be in an area with coverage

b) the mobile network isn't affected by the same power outage - I don't believe many nodes have their own standby power but please tell me if I'm wrong.

c) the EU possesses a mobile telephone

Let us not forget to add the obvious to that list. ;)
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2011, 08:20:46 PM »

Walter,

Your point and concerns are valid.  But I suspect the availability of land-line phones during power outage is something of a lost cause these days, thanks to proliferation of mains-powerred  DECT phones, which are often the only thing households posses, and few of which will work in an outage.  I know it used to be a requirement to have one wired phone, and it may still be, but I'd say it's universally ignored.

The first DECT phone I ever purchased, a BT diverse 1010, came with a backup battery pack containing 6 AAs  that fitted in the PSU lead, so it would be useable in a power outage.  But that phone cost well over £200 in 1997, a far cry from todays bare-bones £20 supermarket bargains.

That said, I'd add...
d) another concern (of depending upon mobiles)  is that in the event of a major incident, even if the base stations are still working,  the service soon becomes unuseable due to cell overload as everybody at once reaches for their mobiles.   I believe that's been a regular occurrence during the terrorist attacks of the last decade, such as 11/9 and 7/7.   A similar 'overload' phenomenon affects land lines too of course, but to a lesser extent owing to the 'five nines' service objectives.
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razpag

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2011, 08:40:00 PM »

Hi Walter

I haven't read fully your link, but am guessing it may be that they are using 'Battery back up' supplies in the Fibre Cabinets ???

I have no knowledge of this personally, but I can give a slight insight into power failures in the Exchange as I was a 'Power Maintenance/Construction Engineer' for the first 4 yrs of joining BT.

If there is a power outage, or even if a single phase of a 3-phase supply (which tbh is all exchanges) is lost, then the exchange load momentarily drops onto the SLA Batteries whilst the 'Engine Set' (Generator) fires up and is brought up to speed. Once the genny is running at the required RPM, only 'ESSENTIAL' loads are placed on it. Obviously the PSTN,DSL,PCR,Xmission racks etc etc, are part of what is classed as 'essential', whereas sockets and various banks of lighting (not walkway lighting) etc may be classed as 'non-essential' and will therefore not work.

The Genny will keep going until it either breaks down, or runs out of fuel. If this scenario were to happen, then the 'essential' load will again drop onto the SLA battery back-up and the required loading time on these batteries is one hour only. If they last longer than this, then great, but that is what is laid out in our specs.

Its roughly 21 yrs since I was on the Power staff and things may have changed somewhat, but I believe this to still be the case.
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waltergmw

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2011, 11:57:13 PM »

Thanks yet again RP,

The article is Ofcom's recommendation of 4 hours being dropped to one hour for fibre lines with the fibre and VOIP modems.

I had extended the item by saying that FTTC do include batteries but their duration is not known to me.

I believe this is especially important in rural areas with overhead power lines which are far less reliable than urban ones.

Kind regards,
Walter
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burakkucat

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2011, 03:00:06 AM »

Quote
The Genny will keep going until it either breaks down, or runs out of fuel. If this scenario were to happen, then the 'essential' load will again drop onto the SLA battery back-up and the required loading time on these batteries is one hour only. If they last longer than this, then great, but that is what is laid out in our specs.

Sorry for the slight deviation OT but what is the expansion of the abbreviation SLA, please?

Also -- possibly apocryphal -- I seem to recall reading about a GPO Power Maintenance worker who dropped a spanner across the battery bus-bars. It glowed red and was welded to the bus-bars before anyone could get close enough to attempt to kick it free. I doubt the battery enjoyed such a rapid discharge, either. :no:
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waltergmw

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2011, 05:48:44 AM »

@ BKC,

I believe the battery story was not from the GPO but but one of Her Majesties Royal Naval submariners where they do have VERY serious power requirements.

Kind regards,
Walter
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razpag

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2011, 07:25:30 AM »

SLA= Sealed Lead Acid. When I started with BT, the battery sets were enormous open wet-cells types that could carry thousands and thousands of amps. They were that big we had completely seperate rooms to house them in.

Fast forward a few years to the advent of Sys X and Sys Y exchanges, and the individual batteries are now the size of your car battery.

Now for the embarrasing bit ........ regarding the 'spanner over the batteries' story. Much to my embarrasment, I have my own personal experience of something similar. :-[ I knocked a whole exchange off for about 3 hrs. This was when I had only been on BT for about 4 months, but the excrement still hit the fan and I and others on-site at the time all had to fill in statements, give interviews etc. It wasn't a spanner though. Will go into more detail later guys, off to graft now. ;D
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BritBrat

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2011, 09:08:48 AM »

.  I know it used to be a requirement to have one wired phone, and it may still be, but I'd say it's universally ignored.


Not ignored here.

And if my thinking is correct it would affect me as I use an Orchid dialer that runs off the power on the phone line, so no power no phones.

Never drop a spanner on a lead acid battery (I Have) as all the tops could blow out and acid is spread everywhere, not to mention the spanner does not look to good after.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2011, 09:15:16 AM by BritBrat »
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burakkucat

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2011, 09:53:49 AM »

SLA= Sealed Lead Acid.

Thank you, RP.

Quote
When I started with BT, the battery sets were enormous open wet-cells types that could carry thousands and thousands of amps. They were that big we had completely seperate rooms to house them in.

That is exactly how I recall seeing various images and illustrations.

Quote
Now for the embarrasing bit ........ regarding the 'spanner over the batteries' story. Much to my embarrasment, I have my own personal experience of something similar. :-[ I knocked a whole exchange off for about 3 hrs. This was when I had only been on BT for about 4 months, but the excrement still hit the fan and I and others on-site at the time all had to fill in statements, give interviews etc. It wasn't a spanner though. Will go into more detail later guys, off to graft now. ;D

A definite big-time "Oops!" Will look forward to the next instalment . . . when you are ready to tell. ;)
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razpag

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2011, 03:39:10 PM »

Basically, a team of 4 of us were renewing the copper 15mm pipe that feeds the Equipment Cable Pressure Rack (ECP), which pumps air to all the E-side cable to halt the ingress of water.

There were 2 ways of routing this pipe, with the easiest method having it go through the 'Battery room' where all these wet, open cells are situated. Obviously, our TO (Technical Officer) decided on this route and positioned me in the Battery Room. All I had to do was take the pipe and pull enough through to then re-feed through to the next room where the ECP was sited. Imagine my horror as this pipe was coming through the wall and as I'm holding the end, the excess (which was in a kind of arc/rainbow shape) suddenly collapsed sideways on top of the cells !! ???

I still don't know why to this day, but the current tracked to the TO who was further away than me and blew him off the ladders he was on. There was an almighty crack, a big puff of smoke and then the quietest of all silences. Not good considering this was a Strowger Exchange and you could hardly hear yourself think during normal working conditions.

As a complete novice, I just stood there like a wet lettuce. Within about 30 minutes there were vans converging on the place from all over the planet (or so it seemed). To cut a long story short, a Power TO arrived and had the situation resolved within minutes by removing the floating battery set, and bashing this large knife-switch breaker back in with a big brush. I ended up working alongside this man for a few years and he ribbed me to death about it. ;D

We all had to fill out in-depth forms and the TO got a real rollocking as he should have had the batteries covered with cardboard or something. I felt quite bad about him get the roasting, but he was fine. One certainly lives and learns.  ;D
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burakkucat

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2011, 04:49:09 PM »

Quite a memorable occurrence! :)

I assume the current went down the pipe towards your TO because there was a better connection to ground at his end rather than at yours. I imagine there were bruises and, possibly, some broken bones if he was propelled from any height to the typical concrete floor. :o
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razpag

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Re: OFCOM Power back-up requirements
« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2011, 06:09:09 PM »

Bruises yes (ego's included), but no broken bones. He must have been well and truly 'Earthed' as I was only a few feet away from where the pipe touched the batteries. He swears blind he was just standing on wooden steps, but I think he may have been touching the metal trunking that runs around the exchanges at near-ceiling height ?? He however says not.

Twas a long time ago and he's been medically retired for roughly 7yrs. I hasten to add, not as a result of this accident.  ;D
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