NBN battery cost

You can buy a UPS and put it between your power point and the NBN equipment, this will give you backup power. Or the other alternative is to have a battery and an Inverter to power your system in the event of a power failure. Both options require an initial outlay that is a little costly but once implemented the batteries that they rely on only need replacement every 5 years or more.

While my understanding of all the details of NBN technologies and installation norms continue to evolve as I learn more, I once thought that also.

From what I am seeing from NBN it is not clear that a personal UPS is enough because it appears the NBN itself can lose power. The personal UPS can keep your modem-router and thus VOIP phone alive if you lose power, but it will not keep the NBN connection alive if that loses power.

There are apparently myriad NBN boxes spread across the land that might have batteries that can ride through a transient power glitch, or short term failure, but do not have the capability to keep running for extended times, such as our locally increasing number of 3-4 hour outages.

I would be grateful if anyone reading can shed some light on this aspect of NBN noting NBN does not advise installing a UPS, they advise having a fully charged mobile! I assume they have a good reason for that :open_mouth:

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The reason NBNCo recommend the charged mobile phone is that if you have FTTN, FTTK (Fibre to the Kerb) or FTTB (Fibre to the Basement) the system is reliant on the power supply in your area and if this is out then no operation is possible. In this case you will need other means of communication. This is because power is needed at the Node in the case of FTTN and is needed at the interface box with FTTK (a little box they place just inside or outside your property which is powered from your house), FTTB is similar to FTTN but the node for all the businesses or units is in the basement.

If you have FTTP the normal battery they supply, in the case of Medical need, Back to Base Alarm systems, and similar, is only good for about 5 hours and then needs about 12 hours to recharge. The battery runs the device in the NBN Interface Box that sends and receives the laser light. So if an outage goes longer than about 4 - 5 hours a home will also need another means of communication. @NubglummerySnr has FTTP, which if he has power, can continue to send and receive from the exchange, until either of those endpoints run out of power.
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With satellite, you just have to keep your modem and router powered- easy with a UPS. However, the satellite has frequent outages, from a few minutes to many hours, so you really do need a separate independent mode of communication.

Nothing but the best for us :open_mouth:

Whether you agree or disagree on what we need, it appears there is ample evidence NBN is an opportunity missed by ignorant partisan pollies.

What I don’t get is that you used to get paid for old lead acid batteries. Now you get nothing so who is making a dollar of of them? I can understand not getting anything for things like used printer cartridges but lead is worth something, isn’t it?

Some scrap metal merchants will still give you money for old lead acid batteries. Our local one does. Most battery resellers will take your old one back but give you nothing except a statement about taking them back to help the environment. Council transfer stations which are now commercial operations take them, generally at no charge.The operators of these stations I assume are making something out of them.

I’ve sold a few tons of old Lead-acid batteries in the past couple of years, generally at 50c - 60c per kg. You just have to find a suitable scrap metal recycler who isn’t out to rip you off.

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Thanks Gordon, I’ll have a look and see if I can find one who does pay something for them. It’s interesting that most car battery sellers seem to offer to “take care of the disposal of your old battery” rather than offering anything for it.

The battery you mention will be for those who have a FTTP connection (fibre to your house). When the NBN was first starting to be rolled out, there was some issues raised by the then opposition (LNP) about loss of connection in a blackout so a back-up battery solution was included in the fibre box on the wall. My understanding is it was to power the UNI-V ports (phone) and not any of the UNI-D (internet) ports in the box.

If you have FTTN, Sat, HFC (Cable), Fixed Wireless as most of the rollout is now, then the battery is not part of the install, as far as I know.

At the time battery program was introduced it was covered in the press quite extensively. Much of the coverage was negative for various reasons. Originally the battery was included, later it was optional. But the cost of replacement was the customers responsibility.

This is just like the UPS power supply I and many others have now connected to their computers at home for the same reason. It allows my computers to keep running when the power goes out and this allows me to save my work and shutdown normally rather than have it just die on me. I have to replace the battery every 3-5 years ($100 per battery).

Thanks, I needed a good laugh. The LNP solution is a national network not fit for purpose because it fails if it loses its power. From the NBNCo literature a UPS will keep your cable modem and/or router alive, but if the NBN itself loses local power, it is down, off, kaput, dead until power is restored to it. (excepting FTTP w/battery) Their formal advice, keep a fully charged mobile on hand if communications is important to you :open_mouth:

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Yeah I know. :confused:

The one thing that NBNCo overlooked in the initial costing of the NBN was the provision of 30,000 duplicted back-up battery systems to keep the network operational during power failures.

This was from a consultant to the project with a background in optic fibre systems.

Sorry, I can’t say if any or all of that was included in the budget blow-outs for the NBN.

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Have you had to replace your NBN FttP backup battery? We’d like to hear from anyone who’s had to replace their battery or will have to replace it soon. We’re hearing that some people are having to pay several hundred dollars for it to be replaced if they can’t do it themselves.

Info about the battery is here: http://www.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco/documents/NBN-power-supply-battery-backup-battery-specification.pdf

Instructions on how to replace the battery is here: http://www2.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco/documents/nbn-fibre-user-guide.pdf

And this is where you can find out where to buy a replacement battery:
http://www2.nbnco.com.au/learn-about-the-nbn/network-technology/fibre-to-the-premises-explained-fttp/nbn-equipment/battery-back-up-service-information.html

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The battery is a common battery used in alarms and many other applications. They are readily available from about $25 to $50 from a wide range of sources, and I am sure you can pay more by not shopping around.

If one needs installation assistance, any telco, sparky, plumber, or […] house call-out fee is $120 or more these days. So $150-200 seems an expected range, and the ‘repairman’ will probably be bringing a top profit battery with him.

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