Cabinet Power
Overview - CPDUs, Short Server Power Cables
CPDUs - Over the years the traditional use of the term PDU has been duplicated into an additional meaning. PDU stands for Power Distribution Units and the IT meaning dating back to the 1980's or earlier was for a transformer based unit incorporating a main circuit breaker, a transformer, one or more distribution panelboards and power monitoring. The new second meaning is the power strips within a server cabinet. To minimize confusion CPDUs is used to differentiate the server cabinet PDU from the traditional PDU. As CPDUs have evolved they truly have gone from power strips to become engineered products that may be basic in nature or quite sophisticated with multiple voltages, metering, ethernet communications and individual outlet control. In selecting CPDUs many considerations come into play including,
- Input Voltage(s) and Plugs
- Amp Rating
- UL branch cicuit protection requirements
- Orientation - vertical or horizontal
- Outlet quantity and style
- Ingle Input or Dual Power Input
- Monitoring
- Outlet Control
- Built In Temperature/Humidity monitoring
- Risk of on/off switch built into a CPDU (generally you don't want an on/off switch)
We have found selection of the optimum CPDU to be one of the most confusing determinations for our customers. As such we have developed a CPDU Selector Tree to guide one to proper selection. Visit the Selector Tree when looking to satisfy your CPDU needs.
There are four main configurations available.
- Basic - These are simple CPDUs that have a input plug, input cord and multiple outlets. No monitoring or control is built in. They are the most economical CPDU. We offer them in horizontal and vertical styles.
- Metered - These CPDUs add in an ammeter display so th eload in amps can be displayed at the CPDU. The meter helps to prevent plugging in to much load. In many applications where higher level CPDUs are used in the server cabinets a metered CPDU may be used in the test lab area to learn the amp draw for a server or load before incorporating the server into a cabinet.
- Smart - These CPDUs go one step further. They incorporate a metering on the unit but add in IP addressability to remotely monitor the current draw at the CPDU level. Often temperature or humidity sensors can be attached to take advantage of using a CPDU as an environmental sensor. SNMP, self hosted web pages and email alerting can be provided by the Smart CPDU.
- Switched - Next level of sophistication is to add in the ability to stagger the turn on of outlets to control inrush currents and to allow remote turn on, turn off and reboot cycling of individual outlets. The switched CPDU allows true remote power management to the outlet level. Some versions of the switched CPDU also display remotely the current for each individual outlet.
To eliminate air blockage at the rear of server cabinets and to reduce power cabling clutter we offer short server power cables. These connect from the CPDU to the inlets of servers and IT equipment. They are offered in 12", 24", 36" and 48" lengths. Standard configurations are 515P to C13 and C14 to C13. Heavy duty C20 to C19 versions are also offered. You may see our data sheet and order or request pricing below.