New approach for some more charging points

[Thebeeman]

I shall believe this when I can see it in operation, I'm still sure it's B.S. having spent many unhappy hours with my head in the cabinets.

[AGT]

Communications ducts are grey, they would all need to be dug up, painted black for power and reinstalled.

[Countrypaul]

Does anyoe know what sort of power supply those green boxes have? I could imagine the actual power normally being used is relatively small, but also could imagine the power supply being the same as to say a house so maybe 100A. as that might be the smallest they bother with. Is it single phase or 3 phase?

I can also imagine that these might not be the fstest chargers around, but a large number of say 7KW could make a significant overall contribution.

[tony]

I reckon 80/100A single phase supply inside box looped into a mains cable nearby

[Thebeeman]

I reckon 80/100A single phase supply inside box looped into a mains cable nearby

A standard old style cabinet had only telephone wires in it, NO mains. 50v dc within the phone wires normally and slightly higher AC when the phone was being rung, a bit of a surprise is you were working on it at the time. The more more cabinets may have a higher voltage to power amplifiers for broadband but they would still not supply anything large, and why would modern cabinets be redundant.
I'm still sure the article is B.S. unless they lay new mains power to them and then out to charge points, in which case why not fit a new box where it would be more convenient.

[Thebeeman]

Having listened to a BT man on R4 Wed midday-ish I'm even more convinced it's PR over reality. They are going to use the power that's already in the cabinets, currently powering broadband amplifiers, to charge numerous vehicles. Serious green-washing is going on, they will HAVE to install a much larger power supply so why not just install a new box in a more convenient place.

[Countrypaul]

I found a document from Opnreach earlier today, but cannot find it again It indicated that most of its green boxes (>97% iirc) use less than 500w. Most of the boxes have 100A supplies though more recent ones may have only 25A - the main reason being to maintain voltage over the distances involved. Again most boxes have meters (remotely readable) but more recent ones may be on unmetered supplies. No boxes have sockets present to plug equipment in, if required battery operated equipmet must be used, or a supply from a vehicle if mains voltage.