Battery room
A battery room is a room that houses batteries for backup or uninterruptible power systems. The rooms are found in telecommunication central offices, and provide standby power for computing equipment in datacenters. Batteries provide direct current (DC) electricity, which may be used directly by some types of equipment, or which may be converted to alternating current (AC) by uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment. The batteries may provide power for minutes, hours or days, depending on each system's design, although they are most commonly activated during brief electric utility outages lasting only seconds. Battery rooms were used to segregate the fumes and corrosive chemicals of wet cell batteries (often lead–acid) from the operating equipment, and for better control of temperature and ventilation. In 1890, the Western Union central telegraph office in New York City had 20,000 wet cells, mostly of the primary zinc-copper type. Telecommunications Telephone system central offices contain large battery systems to provide power for customer telephones, telephone switches, and related apparatus. Terrestrial microwave links, cellular telephone sites, fibre optic apparatus and satellite communications facilities also have standby battery systems, which may be large enough to occupy a separate room in the building. In normal operation power from the