Redundant power options for single power devices

[TrevorReid_apc]

Question: I would like to know what options are available to provide dual (redundant) power capabilities to single power (one power supply) devices in our racks.

In our environment, the racks are supplied with 230V power to two rack PDU's (AP8881) per rack (A side and B side). The majority of equipment is purchased with dual power supplies. One power supply is connected to A side , the other to the B side.

Issue: Some devices only have one power supply.

At times , rack PDU maintenance is required (where the Rack PDU needs to be turned off) ,or, phase balancing is required (where unplugging a device is required to plug the device into a different phase on the PDU). This is difficult with single power devices in  a production environment. Scheduling outage times for the service the device is supporting can be complex, time consuming, difficult to schedule and adhere to SLA's.

What are my options? I would appreciate any feedback.

Trevor

[BillP]

Hi Trevor,

You'll want to look into maybe using a Rack Automatic Transfer Switch. You can take a look at them here -> http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=14 

While those are designed to do what you're asking, they already have a little PDU built into them since they have outlets on them. You could power these ATS units by the receptacles on the AP8881's on the different feeds.

I think we may also sell larger Automatic Transfer Switches for applications further upstream but I am not too sure. Either way, what you'd be looking for is an automatic transfer switch or some type of transfer switch.

[TrevorReid_apc · Accepted solution]

Thank you for the information Angela. We will definitely look into the transfer switch option. We used to use transfer switches in our previous data centres (120V/208V). My understanding was they did not work exactly as intended but I am not sure what the limitations were. I will post how the ATS option works for us!

Thanks again. Trevor