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Thread: "Ye Olde" phone line, as a charger!!!

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    Default "Ye Olde" phone line, as a charger!!!

    Do you suffer from power failures often, or are in an area/place where there is *generally* no A/C power, but there IS a phone-line???
    The *phone-Line* generally supplies ABOUT 48v DC, even when there is a power failure!! Of course, that changes when the 'line' is 'Ringing'
    etc., (various A/C voltages) and when talking. There are various *simple* circuits though, that allow one to use that Phone-Line to for instance
    charge your USB powered SmartPhone!!... As per this following link...

    Mind you, I do not know (yet?) how/if this would work via the new NBN/Broadband Network connections??
    P.S. I don't know if there is enough 'power' for the likes of an 'iPad' etc???
    Last edited by Ah-Those-Old-Days!; 17-11-21 at 10:03 PM.



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    Quote Originally Posted by Ah-Those-Old-Days! View Post
    Mind you, I do not know (yet?) how/if this would work via the new NBN/Broadband Network connections??
    It won't work with NBN as any power to power phones etc comes from the modem/router which is powered by mains, which is why if you lose mains power, you also lose your landline (unless you have a battery backup).

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    Won't work with modern telephony switch gear either -- would've worked back in the old PSTN days before the then Telecom swept through and updated all their exchanges.

    Even so, back when you could pull this off, it was considered illegal and misusing Telecom (and before that, the PMG) equipment, because when exchanges lost mains power and fell over to battery backup, that backup power was limited, and meant to keep the phone network working in case of emergencies and other vital response services ; this is still true today where such phone technology is used. You should never do this, for obvious reasons involving regard for others in your community.

    Like I say though, ppl don't listen to common sense and the correct use of soap, so you have to enforce it (with technology)...and so now with modern exchange gear, if you draw more than a few milliamp from the twisted-pair, the exchange construes this as phone being off-hook, and returns the dial tone signal until timeout, and eventually it gets flagged as a fault, and telstra tech comes say hellow eventually after tracing the fault all the way back to your place, and you get a 'please explain' ; see above about the legality thing =)

    For NBN etc, what mtv said -- powered end-points. I've no idea what the NBN fault response is for excessive current draw, may well be to isolate that circuit..ie; power down. That would be easily discerned by tapping into to your phone circuit as testing, which you're not legal permitted to do because it's not an approved device,..supposing you live anywhere near where the NBN hasn't taken over....or you've been allowed to retain the landline (is that still a thing?)

    The real problem here, the article is coming from instructables.com and authored by some guy who went to Uni in Texas (not Texas in Qld =), and obviously their phone system works as described ~ whether that's legal or not, deep in the heart of Texas, is something you'd want to sure yourself of...but that said, the same premise applies -- battery backup systems are to provide emergency services with landline facilities... if you have to charge you phone, get a powerbank, plug it into your car, get a solar charger, plug it into your laptop, use the dynamo on the pushbike...whatever...but in Australia, this land down under, this 'instructable' doesn't fly.

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    Sorry wotnot. I understand what you are saying...
    I was only talking about using a smartphone, instead of any other legal phone on the line...
    Last edited by Ah-Those-Old-Days!; 22-11-21 at 11:03 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ah-Those-Old-Days! View Post
    Mind you, I do not know (yet?) how/if this would work via the new NBN/Broadband Network connections??
    P.S. I don't know if there is enough 'power' for the likes of an 'iPad' etc???
    Back in the days before the LNP destroyed the NBN, I was lucky to still get the real NBN and they did come with battery backup.
    There was a sizeable SLA built in so all you would have to do is tap in a couple of wires off the battery, a 5v step down regulator (better 2A), solder on an old USB cable with the right version for your phone and charge away.

    Unfortunately the charge circuit was poorly designed and these SLAs started to fail sometimes after less than a year but the intention was good, at least.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 22-11-21 at 11:32 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ah-Those-Old-Days! View Post
    Sorry wotnot. I understand what you are saying...
    I was only talking about using a smartphone, instead of any other legal phone on the line...
    No apology required, I was just touching base with reality =)

    Anecdotal story -- back in the 90's when the AU internet was taking off via the PSTN system with dialup modem, I started getting service callouts to various locations, with the customer complaint of "connection keeps dropping out".

    Now, typically this was the case of a shonky line, or the premises was a long way from the exchange point whatever, and the normal resolve was to setup a (slower) connection profile in the modem (or express it as an AT string in the dialer software), and you'd let the customer know they'd have to pester the Big-T to see if they could get their phoneline fixed/improved.

    Then I started to find in some cases this approach didn't work, and the connection would drop out at very predictable, regular intervals. When I cross referenced the events via the terminal server (ISP end), the logfiles were saying something akin to 'carrier lost - remote circuit', as if the modem had hung-up the call, and after pestering Big-T about it, in the end the issue was particular handsets (iirc the telecom 700 series?), and this included 'decorative' phones ppl had bought themselves. Internal to these handsets, was a small battery/super-cap used in part of the circuitry, and it would connect to the PSTN pair periodically to charge the cell ; the exchange would read this as the handset being on-hook, and it would drop that connection pathway. Again, iirc, this was 5-10mA of current draw before the exchange spidy-senses kicked in...but it's certainly moot where we live -- Telstra disconnected the old copper network entirely a couple of years ago now, and there wouldn't be too many places left in AU where this hasn't already happened as well...ie; it won't work =)

    One really, REALLY, has to turn up the locale volume, when looking at/reading stuff on the internet -- what's true and correct for one place on Earth, often is false and incorrect in another....and I'm extremely suspicious about the name of this forum, AUSTECH, as having some affiliation with Australia B^)

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    The above info is really good but I wonder how many people with "Fibre to the Home" thought of doing it...
    Smith & Wesson. Now that's a point and click interface!

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    Is fibre powered? Now if i get a bank of batteries and have them charging continually from the fibre i could get free electricity to the house and i don't have to buy solar panels, ah just dreaming
    There is a fine line between "Hobby" and "Madness"

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    Old thread and the OP no longer participates.

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