Power system of a SWICH location is a very critical fact. We cannot tolerate any power  failures  in  Core  Network elements. Following  are some highlights of power system.

·         Battery  capacity  of  around  10,000 Ah

·         Typical  Consumption  of equipment  is  (observed)  around 1300-1400 Ah

Observed  power  consumption  will  vary as the network utilization changes. If we consider  a  day, network  utilization changes and it will be a maximum in the busy hour of the network. By using battery power only we can keep system  run  for  nearly  8  hours. Additionally  we  have  fuel  powered Generators in an Emergency situation.

To  make  sure  that  all  the  batteries function well we conduct a test in every six  m0nths  (discharging  all the  batteries is  a  part  of  that  test).  Batteries  are connected  through  Low  Voltage Detectors (LVDs) to disconnect batteries when the reach a certain minimum level. In practical environment we may bypass LVDs to supply power until batteries drain to their minimum limits. This may risk the battery health. But by doing this we can supply power for a longer period to critical loads (equipment).

Single Battery Unit Specification: There were two types of battery units used in Grandpass.
Majority of them are 2.2V, 1500 Ah and the others were 2.2V, 2500 Ah. Twenty four such units connected in series to build up a single bank of batteries. There were  six battery banks inside this room.

High-level block diagram of a Power System (SWITCH Centre) shown below.