Winter Power Outages

[StewartC]

Two questions given there’re likely to be power outages this winter.

Any thoughts on, or recommendations for, a battery pack that could be used to power a BT Smart Hub 2 for several hours?

In the event of a power outage will the local FTTC cabinet continue to function as I believe that mains power is required for it to operate? It would good if it did then our old style BT phone may still be of use and if the BT Hub functioned then the Internet could be available.

Regards, StewartC

[Travelusa]

Anyone on Voip does not help as router plus phone will cut out

Suggest getting standby mobile with lots of data

[Keith_Beddoe]

@StewartC 

The FTTC cabinets do have battery backup, but I a not sure how long they would work, as it depends on the state of the battery, and any associated UPS.

As for the Smart Hub 2, and any other equipment, is a 12V leisure battery kept on float charge, and paired up with a 12-240v inverter. That would allow a number of devices to be powered in the event of a protracted power outage.

I live in an urban area which, owing to old mains local distribution cables, means that I get a number of power outages each year, as the old aluminium joints fail, and this has gone on for 42 years, although things are slowly getting better, as each joint is replaced.

Most of the house is wired for 12v backup lighting, and I have a 80Ah leisure battery float charged, and a 12v to 240V 100W sine wave invertor which can keep the central heating working for a long time.

I am on ADSL broadband, so that is not affected, as my TP Link router is also 12V powered.

Its a case of finding the best solution which suits your situation, as most mains UPS are only designed for short duration interruptions, so a 12V battery and inverter is a much better option.

[StewartC]

Thanks for the reply, very useful.

You mention the use of a leisure battery and an inverter and refer to 12vDC operation of TP Link router. A further question, when powering the router are you powering direct from the battery or are you powering from the inverter using the device’s AC-DC converter? I’m hoping direct from the battery is the solution as it makes matters easier and less costly.

Would I be correct in thinking that there shouldn’t be anything unit-specific regarding the DC input connector type on a BT Smart Hub 2 making a supply cable difficult to achieve?

Regards, Stewart C

[StewartC]

If I had a reliable 4G signal it would be an ideal solution but sadly one's not available. Just a thought, if power outages are for longish periods of several hours what is the operational life of a mobile base station?

[Keith_Beddoe]

Large share mobile base sites normally have backup generators, but smaller sites would just rely on battery power, so you might lose coverage if the one near to you fails. Even larger sites may fall back to basic 2G (phone and GPRS) coverage to conserve power. I would not rely on any of them to provide 4G coverage in the event of a protracted power loss.

Its been a long time since I visited any of those sites, but 3G was an extension to the basic 2G radio units, as the 2G was needed to provide the phone coverage. I expect 4G to be the same.