My Fios box in the garage starting beeping with "low battery" flashing on it. Do I need to call for support or can I replace myself? Any guidance would be great to know. All Fios systems in the house seem to still be working ok. Is this something I must urgently attend to--if I dont, what could happen with my service? THX
So that alarm just means the battery is at the end of it's servicable life. But it could also mean that the battery backup unit is bad too. The battery is user servicable, and can be purchased generally at any hardware store. It's a sealed lead acid battery, common with alarm systems.
If replacing the battery doesn't work, Verizon may have to exchange your battery backup unit. That will require a truch roll.
That's the battery that supplies power for the uninterrupable power supply (UPS) that keeps the equipment in your garage (the ONT - optical network terminal) running if the power goes out. You can read here (and have read on this forum as well) that it only provides backup for telephone service. Snipped from that PDF: "Battery Back-up Unit (BBU): Continuous Power When You Need It
In case your ONT is accidentally unplugged — or in the event of a commercial power failure — your back-up battery will provide you with power for voice
service for up to 8 hours."
I'm not 100% sure I believe that it only runs the voice service as I seemed to get at least a few minutes of network uptime after the power goes out.
Additionally, that document says: "Your BBU was installed in a location in your home where it can be easily monitored. It contains a series of indicator lights that tell you whether your service is being powered by your home’s electricity or the battery. It also tells you when the battery needs replacing. The average life of your battery is between 2 and 4 years, depending on the average temperature of the environment. When your battery does need replacing, you can purchase the sealed lead-acid battery at major electronics outlets and home improvement stores."
So not only can you change it yourself - Verizon expects you too! Joy! They look something like this one at Amazon. You can pay anywhere from $15 to $30 for it depending on the brand.
After my last replacement (battery number three .. or four) I decided to just leave the battery out of the BBU and connect the ONT to an actual APC UPS. That way, the networks stays up until the UPS dies. That will be long after my desktop and router dies, so that's what I went for.
Bbu is designed to only support voice services.
You do get a couple of minutes for other services, but they quickly shut down while voice services stay up.
Yes a ups will cover all services until it dies.
But a lot of people don't have the space for an extra device near the plug for their bbu.
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