sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers Landline electric power?

Hi:

Where do landline telephone systems get their electricity from? During power outages, the landlines continue to function. Does the telephone exchange have it's own power generator? If so, what is the fuel?


Thanks,

Stamford

OH MY GOD

Things that make you wonder. Onan makes huge generators. Ours is a huge natural gas powered unit that makes a ton of noise. The regular power comes from a rectifier that charges 26 storage batteries (approximately, depending on the end cell arrangement). AC is generated by an inverter if needed so a Central Office can float on battery power for some number of hours.

https://now.cumminspower.com/content/YellowPages?gclid=CPqYpvOa8LACFWkCQAod5zzDvw

Carl

Central Offices & POPs have a generator (natural gas or diesel), transfer switches, rectifiers, inverters and battery strings. All items work together to ensure that all of the telephone equipment will have a constant supply of electricity in the event of a commercial power failure.

That's one of the things that separates the real telephone companies from the wannbees!

When I first started with the phone company, and was taking a power course, the instructor said "At the end of this course, you will have learned how the phone company makes pennies out of electrons."

Commercial power --> automatic transfer switch --> rectifier --> battery ---> inverters --> power supplies for CO equipment and lighting /heating.

Many of the generators in central offices on Long Island and in NYC are fueled by kerosene. The prime movers are surplussed Grumman jet engines that drive the alternators. During power failures and test sessions, the odor of kerosene fumes fills the neighborhood.

Arthur,

After the big fire that took out the CO in Manhattan, I was there when, as a matter of desperation, a panel office was being installed. Do you know when that office was decommissioned?

Rcaman

Rcaman, can you believe that they deployed a panel office for that crisis? I guess that it was the fastest way to get an existing office back in service.

It is my understanding that NYT scrambled to get anything into service. I seriously doubt that the panel replacement stayed in service very long after the restoration.

From what I've read about this disaster, most of the damage was in the cable vaults and risers. The actual switching equipment only sustained smoke damage that was cleared by WE technicians. They were able to recover a large amount of the existing panel office switch, so they sought the path of least resistance to restore service.

I'd have thought that they'd have thrown a 1ESS in, but they were limited to what WE had on the shelf. My guess is that even individual components of the ESS weren't on the shelf in that era, unlike components of crossbar, SXS and even panel equipment. Even though it seems like yesterday, they likely had more parts for mechanical offices in stock than they did for electronic ones in 1975.

HERE\'S some discussion about this crisis.

There's so much more out there on this subject, in fact I believe that at&t maintains an archive site with details about this disaster.

I always heard that it was a "convenient" fire. (Pay attention, Jeff). Supposedly, they had a new CO just around the block. However, I can't remember if this was actually the case.

Carl

EV607797,

Thank you for the info. I graduated from college in 1970 and my first job was as an engineer for BTCO. Any and all warm bodied (and a few cold ones) were asked to go to NY and help. I met a lot of interesting people and I got my first taste of grease from watching the "Monkey climb the pole."

I was just amazed at how the thing actually operated and was really shocked at how many of the old timers working on the disaster said that they could maintain that switch forever.

I learned to listen for the proper operating sounds of a #5 Xbar and I still remember the cadence of a stepper but there's nothing short of chaotic to describe the noise of that panel office. Thanks, again.

Rcaman