Power Strip With Individual Power Draw Monitoring?

[jtabc2]

I'd like a power strip that monitors the power draw of all devices plugged into it and can be controlled over IP (through a wired ethernet connection). Ideally I could interface with it directly over IP so I could, for example, create a CSV file that contains the power consumption in watts at a moment in time and continually poll it, say once every several minutes. It would be really insightful to see how all my servers behave, as it would reveal long term trends that I otherwise wouldn't see when measuring temporarily with my Kill-a-watt meter.

As a point of comparison, I have several TesMart KVMs which act this way; you can easily write a Python script to ask them which ports they are switched to and get the result back just using Python's built-in socket module; so you're free to do whatever you want with the data, and poll it at whatever rate you like.

Does anything like this exist for measuring power consumption? I've seen Wattbox devices, but they don't sell directly to end users. There are several on Ebay, though, but the issue is that I have no idea if that level of detail is directly accessible without their proprietary software. I don't see any documentation on their website for how to interface directly with IP commands.

 

[NablaSquaredG]

Does anything like this exist for measuring power consumption?

Absolutely, just search for "Metered by Outlet PDU".

All manufacturers have them - APC, Eaton, Aten, Vertiv, etc... They all support SNMP to read out data

 

[NablaSquaredG]

I think a power strip that monitors the power draw of each device and can be controlled over IP would be a great tool for homelab enthusiasts. It would allow us to track the energy consumption of our servers and devices, and automate their power management. I have been looking for something like this for a long time, but I haven’t found anything that meets my needs.

They exist. You need to look better I guess

 

[tinfoil3d]

I use a decades old APC AP7900 PDU for example. For full-rack I use raritan and more modern APC that I got for relatively small amount of money.
AP7900 is rackmounted only, but you'd generally get one for peanuts. Full well-known well-documented SNMP control, aside from web, ssh and telnet. These are metered and switched by outlet, there are metered only out there and just "basic", just a strip. For single-plug devices I've seen iBoot G2, but unfortunately that's for US users only (60Hz and 115V), I've 50Hz here in north Japan.
More or less modern APC 8000 series and newer come with kwh meter per outlet and overall. Lots of SNMP fields for monitoring. Can use it for billing your customers.

 

[tinfoil3d]

For those of you who're new to enterprise equipment, racks and stuff, like we all were at some point, these devices you're looking for are called PDUs(power distribution units) not powerstrips. So a simple search on ebay for something like "208V switched PDU" would turn up a lot of cheap options.
There's absolutely no reason to pay for chinese garbage that is cloud-locked and smartphone app-only. Tons of locally controlled options.

 

[ano]

I have MBO apc pdu in homelab, cool things! sometimes they show up dirt cheap on local marketplaces

 

[nasbdh9]

I only recommend Raritan, their PDU software is absolutely leading the way
Even products using PX2 controllers still offer software updates today
And these products, which are almost ten years old, are running kernel 6.1 (according to the open source statement)

 

[tinfoil3d]

Cool, but I've first PX series( DPXS20A-30L6 ), didn't even look into upgrading because, well, it just works. Don't upgrade or fix what's working is rule #1 in IT, especially true if this is an airgapped network.

 

[beren]

I only recommend Raritan, their PDU software is absolutely leading the way
Even products using PX2 controllers still offer software updates today
And these products, which are almost ten years old, are running kernel 6.1 (according to the open source statement)

I mean that's great, but my 7901s are from 2001-2003 and the last firmware update was in 2021. Let us know in another decade if you still get updates

 

[tinfoil3d]

I mean that's great, but my 7901s are from 2001-2003 and the last firmware update was in 2021. Let us know in another decade if you still get updates

It doesn't magically enable by-outlet current metering does it. I've 7900 firmware from late 2000s or early 2010s and never bother upgrading. What to upgrade in PDU that's only job is to switch and report status. Didnt know they upgrade it for this long. Fixing security bugs for unsuspecting customers who give it public ip, probably.