Battery backup for phone and internet

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ge_rik
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Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by ge_rik » Thu Nov 03, 2022 10:26 am

It looks highly likely that there will be power cuts this winter, particularly if we get prolonged periods of cold weather. I found that BT does provide a battery backup device for my Smart Hub for the princely sum of £85 but it only works for an hour and won't power my cordless phone base station. So, I looked for a cheaper option.

For around £15, I got a 12v 7 Ah lead acid battery
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154316027270

and for c£7 I got an auto changeover switch.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204112420848


These can be bought directly from China for under £5. Here's how they work:
XH-M350 Battery Switching Module_13096_1.jpg
XH-M350 Battery Switching Module_13096_1.jpg (204.44 KiB) Viewed 3397 times

Both the hub and the phone base station are powered by 12v mains adapters and so this seems to be a suitable option. I'm trying to figure out if I can power both from one mains adapter and hence use just one battery backup, but if not, for around another £20 (still half the cost of the BT battery backup), I'm happy to invest in a separate backup supply for each.

More importantly, if it works, I'll backup my mum's emergency button base station.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Rik
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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by gregh » Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:20 am

Does the auto changeover switch actually charge the battery??

If not, you could use a simple manual changeover switch or just a plug and socket. (and remember to keep the battery charged) I investigated the same problem here in Oz, then found that the incoming fibre system did not have battery backup anyhow, so that the internet and phone went down with a general power cut anyhow.

I agree that for you Mum an auto changeover would be necessary.
Greg from downunder.
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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by GAP » Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:19 pm

gregh wrote: Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:20 am Does the auto changeover switch actually charge the battery??

If not, you could use a simple manual changeover switch or just a plug and socket. (and remember to keep the battery charged) I investigated the same problem here in Oz, then found that the incoming fibre system did not have battery backup anyhow, so that the internet and phone went down with a general power cut anyhow.

I agree that for you Mum an auto changeover would be necessary.
Greg,
NBN provide a battery backup as an optional extra, the lady across the road in Bomaderry had one for emergencies due to a health condition.
I was asked if I wanted one when they connected me to the fibre to the house cost was about $100 when installed.
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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by ge_rik » Sat Nov 05, 2022 9:00 am

gregh wrote: Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:20 am Does the auto changeover switch actually charge the battery??

If not, you could use a simple manual changeover switch or just a plug and socket. (and remember to keep the battery charged) I investigated the same problem here in Oz, then found that the incoming fibre system did not have battery backup anyhow, so that the internet and phone went down with a general power cut anyhow.

I agree that for you Mum an auto changeover would be necessary.
No, it doesn't include a charging function (but I'll bet there is a Chinese module out there which does - I'll try AliExpress). I'll just top-up the battery manually from time to time.

Rik
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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by GAP » Sat Nov 05, 2022 7:56 pm

ge_rik wrote: Sat Nov 05, 2022 9:00 am
gregh wrote: Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:20 am Does the auto changeover switch actually charge the battery??

If not, you could use a simple manual changeover switch or just a plug and socket. (and remember to keep the battery charged) I investigated the same problem here in Oz, then found that the incoming fibre system did not have battery backup anyhow, so that the internet and phone went down with a general power cut anyhow.

I agree that for you Mum an auto changeover would be necessary.
No, it doesn't include a charging function (but I'll bet there is a Chinese module out there which does - I'll try AliExpress). I'll just top-up the battery manually from time to time.

Rik
Look for a "float" charger it will keep the battery topped up while the battery is being drawn upon.
https://www.batteriesplus.com/blog/power/charge-on
Graeme
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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by GTB » Wed Nov 09, 2022 3:32 am

Here in Oz not all the possible NBN connection types can be supplied as a 'power fail' service and the NBN just say 'too bad, so sad, get a mobile phone'. One of my friends had to sign his mother up to a personal alarm monitor service, as the NBN connection in that area didn't support power fail phones and she couldn't manage a mobile phone.

I've recently, and very reluctantly, bought a smartphone for emergency calls when I'm away from the house. It was that, or a personal alarm monitor.

I've set the smartphone up as a personal wifi hotspot, so if the mains go out I've got an emergency phone and I can access the internet via a tablet. Why not just use the smart phone for the internet you may ask? The reason is simple, the screen is too damn small to read and the virtual keyboard is close to unusable for me on any phone smaller than a tablet.....

I already have a backup battery power supply that is automatically kept charged, it's parked in the garage...... 8)

The new car has a USB port and can charge the phone and the tablet if necessary, but even with the old car it replaced, there are USB charging adaptors available that plug into the lighter socket.

All that said, mobile phone towers are battery backed, so the mobile system goes down a few hours after the mains. I think it took about 5 hrs. for the towers to go offline after mains power went out the other day in the Albury/Wodonga area. Same applies to landlines when power goes out to the local exchange.

If things turn to crap in a major natural disaster, which is more likely than extended power cuts here, I've also got a battery powered radio and a stash of dry cells, as the info system of last resort is ABC Radio.

Regards,
Graeme

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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by ge_rik » Wed Nov 09, 2022 6:55 pm

By coincidence, a BT engineer came yesterday. I have renewed my broadband contract with them and was given a 'free' engineer's call as part of it, despite having been with them for around ten years. I checked with him whether, when there's a power cut, there would still be power to run the fibre connection through the local exchange. He assured me it would be fine and even volunteered to fit their (£85) battery backup device.

I can't say he was overly impressed by my £15 SLA battery, but agreed it would do the job.

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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by Lonsdaler » Tue Nov 15, 2022 10:50 pm

ge_rik wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 6:55 pm By coincidence, a BT engineer came yesterday. I have renewed my broadband contract with them and was given a 'free' engineer's call as part of it, despite having been with them for around ten years. I checked with him whether, when there's a power cut, there would still be power to run the fibre connection through the local exchange. He assured me it would be fine and even volunteered to fit their (£85) battery backup device.

I can't say he was overly impressed by my £15 SLA battery, but agreed it would do the job.

Rik
I'm in our local mountain rescue team, and we run radio repeaters at remote locations with a 7ah sla for power backup. They're good for about 8 hours, depending on comms traffic, generally consuming similar power to a broadband router.
Do you have FTTH (fibre to the home) or FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) Rik? Our village was 'upgraded' by Openreach to FTTC about 5 years ago. The closer you are to the cabinet, the faster your connection, up to about 70mb/sec. Being more remote, we only get between 25 - 28mb/sec.
However, I am currently involved as part of a community workforce in installing a hyperfast fibre network in our village, which will provide a 980mb/sec connection to every property that wants it (you can even sign up for Superhyperfast broadband, at just under 10000mb/second! I understand there is currently only one customer signed up for that😂). All the outlying farms around our village have been on the network for about 8 years, so we are playing catch up.
Between us our community has raised sufficient funding, together with government vouchers, to employ contractors to help with the installation, but digging in ducting on each property has been down to our community workforce to achieve, as will the installation of routers and commissioning, which is due to start next week. It's been a marathon task, but the end is in sight - only about half of the properties in the village have committed to sign up, but we have managed to provide an access point to the boundary for every property in the village, so that they can connect in the future, if they change their mind.
You can view details of the scheme here https://b4rn4bil.org.uk/ and about the provider here https://b4rn.org.uk/.
Phil

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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by ge_rik » Wed Nov 16, 2022 10:25 am

Hi Phil
I've got FTTH. Our village was one of a handful involved in a pilot scheme to roll out fibre to rural areas. Not sure why we were chosen. So, I've been on fibre for a couple of years now.

The technician did tell me the speed I was getting but I can't remember. I know he said it was healthy though.

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Re: Battery backup for phone and internet

Post by FWLR » Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:11 am

Mmmm interesting this.We have been with BT for 15 years and we still haven't got fibre, all I get when I get in touch with them is, it's due to be installed in the next 5 years.... :roll: Thats been said for the 15 years, I will be long gone before they install it and it also will only be going to the cabinet, so it's not going to be much better than what we get now.
The first screenshot is from www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk
The 2nd one is from Which

88267107-899F-422C-9508-64383A505FFB_4_5005_c.jpeg
88267107-899F-422C-9508-64383A505FFB_4_5005_c.jpeg (33.13 KiB) Viewed 3225 times



16F6863E-6F69-4D0F-9D87-F1E58C011A64.png
16F6863E-6F69-4D0F-9D87-F1E58C011A64.png (1.56 MiB) Viewed 3225 times

Not a lot of difference between them. I have looked at Fibre Broadband prices and I am not prepared to pay the silly prices every month for something that I don't really need. We get by with BT's poor service really. Our broadband goes down quite regularly and we have got used to it, but saying that when we moved from our last address, 3 quarters of a mile away, we got nearly 56mbh, strange really even though we are closer to the green box now. There are several green boxes in our area that supply lots of new local houses, that may be the reason who knows :dontknow:

Still Rik's battery backup looks interesting, but do I need it, I'am not sure. Even though I am now classed 'At Risk' and we have the emergency system in our property, it wouldn't help having the system Rik as told us about, it won't help it would it. Although for mobile phone charging it would be a great help indeed.

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