Battery Backup Unit

[nsek]

Hi,

My BBU is about 8 years old.  I am getting a RED replace battery light but no audible alarm - system status is still green.  When this happens, I loose both Fios TV and Internet service.  When I remove the battery, there is still no service.  I replaced the battery with a freshly charged battery (from reading the forum, I gather this is the responsibility of the homeowner) and all works good.

But after 8 hours I notice that the RED replace battery LED is on again, system status is still green, and I loose service again.  When I remove the battery and test its voltage, it has dropped to 8 volts (Initially, it was at 13 volts.)  I will try again with another new, freshly charged battery but if the BBU again drains the battery, will Verizon cover replacement of the BBU?  There were no power outages so the unit has not needed to rely on the battery - note also that when I remove the battery completely and leave the AC plugged in, the red replace battery LED and the green system status LED both go off and there is no service,

Thanks for any insight into this issue.

[jonjones1]

Maybe you are not following the correct instructions to completely remove the BBU.

here is a link to show the proper way you remove it.

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup/backup-unit#disconnect

If the issue s sue is such as you write I would call 1-800-VERIZON and have a truck roll for it to be fixed or replaced or removed.

Good Luck

[Capricorn1]

I would guess that the charging unit on your BBU has failed. The BBU is really only there to maintain your landline telephone service if the power goes out. From experience, it does seem to keep the Internet (and probably the TV as well) running for a few minutes. That's enough to get you through those short power blips. After a few minutes, only the landline telephone will continue working. The BBU is expected to keep that working for about eight hours. A fully-charged new battery worked for while until it too became discharged. Also, on my unit at least, the alarm doesn't constantly sound. It's more like the occasional chirp you get with a dying battery in a smoke detector.

If you really want to back up your Internet and TV, remove the battery from the BBU, use the Alarm Silence button to keep it from sounding again and plug the power cord into a real UPS. I use an APC 700 or 750 (not sure which). It keeps up the Internet for more than a half hour. (The UPS I have on the Linux box I use as a router shuts down about that time, so I don't know how long the ONT actually stays up.)

Since there are a few models on BBUs and ONTs in service, I'll post a picture of mine. The Replace Battery LED is always on since there's no battery in there, but the unit works as expected.

[tns2]

Slight correction.  The BBU is required to supply power to your ONT.  However the battery is only there to supply Phone service for about 8 hours.  Note the battery also will work for a few minutes to continue to supply TV and Internet service.  Long enough to help you in very small power loses (usually a few seconds or less) without obviously losing service that many communities experience during storms, etc.

[Capricorn1]

I hope I wasn't misleading to the point to cause people to start ripping their BBUs out. It does supply line power to the ONT. (I've been under the impression that is not 110VAC, but maybe more like 12VDC.)

[jonjones1]

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@Capricorn1 wrote:

I hope I wasn't misleading to the point to cause people to start ripping their BBUs out. It does supply line power to the ONT. (I've been under the impression that is not 110VAC, but maybe more like 12VDC.)

---

That battery backup unit is not necessary for ont power. In fact in the Verizon link for its removal it is obvious if you don't have phone service the battery backup unit is not needed.

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup

Read what it says.

and its removal instructions 

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup/backup-unit#disconnect

There is also another type of battery backup which can be turned on and off if necessary and it gets easy replacement with "D" cell batteries.

its called power reserve.

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup/power-reserve

Again the battery is not needed UNLESS YOU HAVE PHONE SERVICE.

the ont works on direct 110v electric not a 12v battery.

[CRobGauth]

Ont is DC powered not an.

You can't remove bbu as it also functions as a power supply to convert ac to DC.

Yes, battery backup is not required, but the device is.

For the op, I have been told that some onts need to have a battery in place to operate.

If it appears bbu is defective, not just a bad battery, contact support to have tech come out.

I just had a case where it appeared bbu was defective. No lights when powered up. Pulling ac would show battery  on. And removing battery would show red battery light.

Tech came out and it turned out ont was defective.

[jonjones1]

From Verizon's web portal

https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/internet/fiosinternet/general+support/getting+started/qu...

It uses direct electric connection to operate. 110v household current.

Oh I don't have the Power Reserve enabled. I have a black 3 prong plug in my wall socket. There is no BBU power supply either in my ONT nor around it.

The installer said it was not needed for install. Just a power plug to use.

Convert this to that is totally unnecessary in the grand scheme of installation.

[CRobGauth]

Ont device itself is 12vdc.

You either have the bbu or an external power supply.

Both plug in to 110v ac and output 12v DC to power the ont itself.

Can't provide a link as it is a PDF and doesn't past well.

But google Alcatel ONT 7432 and you will see the spec sheet.

[jonjones1]

• Well i found this:

https://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/2308880~286c40233f6cdb5a7aab103a9601c2b7/spain_7342_ONT_ETSI....

Page 7 has the power information. Seems we are both correct in our statements.

[Tribs]

Sorry but I have to disagree with those saying battery is not needed for ONT to function  I suspect it depends on the model ONT three times I’ve taken a battery out charged it put back in, network comes up everything works fine soon as the battery runs out of juice everything goes down.

now it may be the ONT is faulty but it is clearly getting power as  lights are on.  Verizon (on phone) says it was up till battery died then everything is out again.

tech coming out but not for 5 days when I suspect they’ll replace it.  Supposed to be able to plug it in, there is no plug on my ONT so it is going to be interesting to see what they say.  Posting so others don’t think they are crazy.

[Capricorn1]

I would really like to see a picture of your ONT, battery backup, and whatever else you think is relevant. It may indeed be different for different models. I, myself, have a really old ONT and BBU. I removed the battery from the BBU a couple years ago in favor of just plugging the whole thing into a UPS. The reason being that on battery, the BBU only kept the network up for a few minutes. (The landline phone would keep working for hours - back when I had one.) I can't for the life of me figure out what you have. Makes me really curious.

[Capricorn1]

I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours. 🙂

The first picture is the BBU unit with the AC/DC voltage converter (with the green OK light) just below it. This is in a closet in the basement.

The ONT with the cover open. (This was swapped with an ONT 6100-612) It is mounted outside.

Tellabs ONT 6100-611

Ignore the gray ONT on the left. It's old and dead. The one on the right (white) is the active one.

Two Network Heads are Better Than One

[tns2]

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That battery backup unit is not necessary for ont power. In fact in the Verizon link for its removal it is obvious if you don't have phone service the battery backup unit is not needed.

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup

Read what it says.

and its removal instructions 

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup/backup-unit#disconnect

There is also another type of battery backup which can be turned on and off if necessary and it gets easy replacement with "D" cell batteries.

its called power reserve.

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup/power-reserve

Again the battery is not needed UNLESS YOU HAVE PHONE SERVICE.

the ont works on direct 110v electric not a 12v battery.

---

ITs true that Verizon now is doing some  installs with a power supply that is not a BBU.  But most installs were done with BBU.  If you have a BBU (not a power reserve) it can't be removed although you can run without a battery in place.  Those instructions you posted do not tell you how to remove a BBU.

[jonjones1]

Once again read the instructions here. 

https://www.verizon.com/support/consumer/battery-backup/backup-unit

It clearly shows how to remove the batteries as well as step 8 simply says to put the cover back on AFTER REMOVING THE RED & BLACK WIRES

the ONT is run on normal household current. 110v 

if the power is shut off, or knocked out by a power outage then there is no power to the ONT.

The main purpose for a BBU is to provide power to the phone service as it states at Verizon's own web site.

The BBU is not necessary period if you have no phone.

[Fios_User11]

I guess Im puzzled. We just had a noreaster and knocked out power for a day. My backup battery (which was on with the green light) did not power my landline, voice services, internet or TV. What is the purpose and how was it suppose to give me backup power?  Does anybody know.....   

[Capricorn1 · Accepted solution]

First off, there at least two main types of BBUs. There are several that use lead-acid rechargeable batteries (with the AC/DC charger included) and are a quite a few different battery backup units as you can see here. Some models of ONTs use a PowerReserve unit that uses D-cells rather than a rechargeable 12V lead-acid battery, which apparently keeps the landline phone going for 24 hours.

The bottom line is how mine behaves (behaved anyway when it had a battery) and the way others behave may not be the same. I have this model (APC). When I had a landline phone, this BBU would keep that going for at least eight hours. As this link mentions, that's all the BBU keeps going. It does not power the Internet or TV. In practice, I found that not to be quite true. The BBU kept the Internet up for at least a few minutes before dropping it. I never checked to see if the TV stuck around for a while, too, since none of the STBs or TVs were/are on UPSs.

If the green light was on, you should have had landline service for at least eight hours. However, this assumes that your local central office (CO) has backup power of some type as well. That is, it doesn't matter if your ONT is up if the other end is down.

[DIY-Doc]

The battery backup unit (BBU ) is only for the Verizon Optical Network Terminal (ONT) for about 8 hours. The ONT supplies the internet SIGNAL to your home devices such as router and TVs., but not the AC power for those devices.  You still need to supply your own backup AC power for the other devices to work and use the signal from the ONT (router, TVs and other WiFi devices).

[philthycoder]

For those who might wander into this thread via search, here are the distilled facts about the power supply, battery backup behavior, etc, of the BBU and ONT:

- The ONT itself is powered by 12V DC, which is delivered either via the BBU, which transforms power from an adapter (that adapter itself is transforming 110V to 48V/48 Watts for delivery to the BBU), or a "standalone" adapter which transforms 110V AC household voltage to 12V DC direct to the ONT. There is a poster in this thread who claims that the ONT accepts mains 110V AC, and that is incorrect.

- It is correct that, when mains power is down and the battery is the active power source, the only connection that is maintained is landline telephone service. The MoCA/Ethernet and Video services remain active for <10 minutes once the mains power is disconnected, at which point the ONT disables them, based on a signal from the BBU which tells the ONT that it is on battery backup power. (BTW, this behavior can be hacked, and internet/video can be made to remain connected even when on battery power. Google is your friend)

- If you currently have a BBU and an ONT, and the BBU is connected to the ONT with either a multi-conductor cable or a collection of ~7 loose wires connected between the BBU and ONT with terminal block connectors, you cannot simply delete the BBU from your setup. In addition to acting as a power adapter/battery charger, the BBU is giving the ONT additional information on the power status - namely whether the system is currently running on mains power or battery power - and the ONT behaves differently based on that information (see above bullet point)

- If you have the misfortune of having the 48V-12V transformer in your BBU die late on a Sunday evening, and you work from home (needing to ensure that the internet is going to be working first thing in the morning), you can do the following: (1) Make sure the BBU is unplugged, and the battery is also unplugged from the BBU (2) Swap the blue and gray wires between the BBU and the ONT. If you have loose wires connected to terminal blocks at either end, this is easy. If you have a bundled, multi-conductor cable between BBU and ONT, it does take a bit more work to open up the outer cable sheath, cut the blue and gray wires, and switch/solder/insulate them. It's not much more work though. (3) When you've finished your wire modification between BBU and ONT, plug the battery back into the BBU. This will turn the BBU on, and it will keep internet and video services powered. NOTE - the standard BBU battery is not going to keep everything up and running for more than a day. If you want a more semi-permanent fix until you can get a service tech out to your place to replace the BBU, you can hunt down a 12V ~1A wall wart power adapter, cut the barrel plug off, connect the +/- leads to the corresponding leads on the battery-to-BBU adapter, and plug the battery-to-BBU adapter back into the BBU (sans the battery, of course). When combined with the above-mentioned blue/gray wire swap modification, this fix will keep you up and running with all services, indefinitely.