topic Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones in Broadband & Landline

Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:58:43 GMT

Does anyone know if you can mute the alarm tones in the new 'battery back up plus'?

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 09:11:11 GMT

@DingDongDog Is it the CyberPower battery backup unit that you have, if so the leaflet gives you guidance on what to do.

Alarm button, have linked the document manual below.

cyberpower_bbu__for_fttp.pdf

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 09:51:05 GMT

No - I am about to go on to FTTP and digital voice and have ordered a BBU that is the new 'white box' that powers both ONT and hub. Like the one described at https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/03/broadband-isps-vodafone-bt-kcom-and-zen-internet-prep-new-uk-battery-backup.html

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 09:59:00 GMT

@DingDongDog Does EE even supply that unit at present?

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 11:18:17 GMT

Yes, EE do supply - but it seems only to new customers.

I am currently about to end my BT contract on good old copper and will be transferred onto EE full fibre with 'digital voice' phone.

I was offered the new BBU during the online ordering process and have paid £150 for it, with a 'free' digital phone handset thrown in. Should arrive around Easter.

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 11:34:33 GMT

@DingDongDog That's good, let us know how it goes, did my sister's as she is vulnerable status but had to do it with 2 off the older units, one for the ONT and one for the EE Smarthub+, but at least that way she get's the whole day 24hr's out off both units, may even be longer on the ONT as it hardly use's any power, but one is not good without the other and just a lot messier solution, but all in the cupboard as a new build with that being the central wired network point... Sure has jumped up in price, dual unit from EE was around the £85 mark, and still at that price so the online say's.

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 11:44:41 GMT

I'm surprised that your sister gets a whole day backup as those units are only quoted as 'at least one hour'.

I'm guessing that that the two for £85 offer on the CyberPower units is their way of clearing old stock.

Information on the new 'single box' solution seems hard to find, but from the pictures there is no mute button.

Hence my question to this forum. I'm not looking forward to being wakened when the power blips

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 12:03:25 GMT

@DingDongDog They are pretty hefty units, with a good sized lead acid sealed battery in them, the one hour is a guidance only to cover. You may find that there is a way to have the mute work when you get one, and you can also test the runtime when connected to see how it goes. The 2 for £85 has always been that price, was easier for EE to do it that way, as ONT and the EE router have different connections and probably had a few complaints to get it all sorted out.

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 13:57:58 GMT

Has your sister tested her BBU's and confirmed 24hours run time?

I only ask because I saw a post on thinkbroadband that said "I got hold of a (free) BT Battery Backup unit (BBU) for neighbours who have just started a new SOGEA contract with Digital Voice, but have no mobile signal. This was the "non-FTTP" variant (DTB24U12V-BT1) which has an IEC C7 (figure-of-8) power socket for input, and a single 12vDC power output." . . . . . . . ."My setup (Plusnet Hub2 router, brand new BBU), ran for 6 hours 46 minutes."

Perhaps hers is a different variant? I think CyberPower do units with batteries bigger than the standard BT/EE offering that I believe is with a 12volt 7AH battery

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:36:13 GMT

@DingDongDog BT3 at the end, latest version, and it is also all to do with how many devices and how busy the network is also. It was tested at the install after i had charged it all up for a few day's, set it all up, checked the operation, muted the alarm and had her check it, she called the next day saying it was near the 24hr mark, was very important to know as wheel chair bound and has to call me if there is any problems so i can get to her asap. Has been NO apparent power issue since it was installed but on my todo list to go check battery condition after the 1 year install in October later this year.

Also it is the SH32B fttp variant of the router, so may be a little less power hungry!

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:51:17 GMT

This discussion has veered off from my original question regarding the new type BBU but, as a retired engineer, this discussion has me intrigued.

EE list the SH32B power consumption as "In operation (Max) 23w, Networked Standby 10.46 W"

The BT1 and BT3 BBU's are listed as having a single 12volt 7AH battery

That gives 84 watt hours - assuming 100% efficiency

So by my reckoning, in the even of a mains power outage, the hub should be powered for around 8 hours maximum - less in 'real world'.

Are you sure that you/your sister have tested router/ONT functionality with mains power disconnected?

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 10:41:37 GMT

@DingDongDog Will test when up in a couple off weeks to be sure, and see what the difference is for both the units. My watt meter does not have the correct connection on it so cannot get the true rate for the Router or the ONT. Think she has the Adtran ONT if i remember on the other ups. So will just switch off the power and see when the router finally runs out off power.

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:48:43 GMT

I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

There's a YouTube video that shows a full fibre instal with a power off test at the end that folks might find helpful

Meanwhile, when I'm fully fibred I'll do a power off test with the new type BBU and post results here

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 12:19:47 GMT

@DingDongDog Got it, good video, unless she got it wrong and not surprised at the ONT time, have exact same setup with both units next to each other as central point in the cupboard for all the Ethernet cabling/ONT and EE Router out to the points in the house. Units will now be six months old and will give good idea about the battery condition.

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

DingDongDog — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 13:43:27 GMT

I can now confirm that the alarm tones in the new battery backup plus CAN NOT be turned off however, they are quite low volume so should not be a problem.

Also, the new BBU is now available to purchase online in the EE Store

Re: Battery back up plus alarm tones

JimM11 — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:50:59 GMT

@DingDongDog Glad it's working out, do you rate the unit as good now, have been up to sister but could not mess with her system as was doing multiple other things at the time.👍🙄