Alternatives to Supermicro for PSU's and power distribution circuits?

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

ullbeking

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
506
70
28
45
London
Hello!

Recently I've had trouble caused by Supermicro power distribution units (PDU's) and power supplies (PSU's). Very few are bad, but when they are bad they are truly terrible. Unfortunately I'm working through a problem with a PDU right now. It has taken a long time to isolate the cause and I won't be able to confirm until after I do even more tests.

Can anybody please recommend other brands of high quality PSU's and other power supply electronics such as PDU's?

This would be great just in case I end up in a similar situation in future and a suitable substitute from a different manufacturer is available.

For example, I know Delta are supposed to be excellent, but when I looked at their range of switching power supplies for servers, I was just a little disappointed by the very small range.

Are there any other companies who actually make server PSU's (and PDU's, etc) of very high quality?

Obviously the common form factors ATX, SFX, SFX-L, TFX, FlexATX, etc, are important to have access to. But also, I often need various form factors for rack-mounted chassis, such as 1U, 2U, etc, possibly in redundant configurations, of various sizes and outputs. There's a huge range of specifications, I think I'd be lucky to find more than one vendor in some (many?) cases.

Nevertheless I'm sure that I've seen a wide variety of server PSU's and other hardware from companies like Delta. But I can't think of any at the moment and searching the web and online electronics stores isn't yielding anything helpful yet. If anybody has recommendations, please let me know. Thank you!
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
4,221
1,540
113
34
Germany
Seasonic Males psus that are compatible with some chenbro Chassis.
Are you looking to replace the psus in Supermicro Chassis with other vendors psus?
 

ullbeking

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
506
70
28
45
London
Seasonic Males psus that are compatible with some chenbro Chassis.
I like Seasonic PSU's in general very much.

My chassis is Supermicro, and I like the form factor very much: SC747TG-R1400B-SQ | 4U | Chassis | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc. Unfortunately the power distribution circuitry (PDU) in this chassis isn't great, so I'm presently jumping through hoops to get the PSU's to work properly.

Are you looking to replace the psus in Supermicro Chassis with other vendors psus?
In the future, perhaps. It's more likely that I'll look for a better PDU and then choose the PSU's that match that properly and have the correct form factor for the chassis.

However this depends on what answer I get from the upstream system integrator regarding support for fixing the PDU or patching the firmware that is part of the power on sequence. I have two PSU's that are apparently the best I can have in my circumstances, so I'm happy about that and I hope that I can get them to work properly, preferably, before changing everything around. I have several ideas already but I want to ride the current one out as there is still a lot of low hanging fruit to pick.
 

int0x2e

Member
Dec 9, 2015
94
71
18
44
I've actually gone all in on older HP Common Slot PSUs and PDUs (I use the Gen7 platinum plus since they were the most economical and still get over 94% efficiency).
Like a lot of designs, the PSUs are basically 12v only. The power backplane takes care of redundancy and converts the 12v coming out of the PSUs to standard ATX.
Having said that - expect to do some basic soldering or hacking to get them to work and to add standard molex connectors and the like.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ullbeking

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
1,095
642
113
I've actually gone all in on older HP Common Slot PSUs and PDUs (I use the Gen7 platinum plus since they were the most economical and still get over 94% efficiency).
Like a lot of designs, the PSUs are basically 12v only. The power backplane takes care of redundancy and converts the 12v coming out of the PSUs to standard ATX.
Having said that - expect to do some basic soldering or hacking to get them to work and to add standard molex connectors and the like.
Me too. :)



 

demetulth

New Member
Mar 16, 2020
3
0
1
Wow, this is really neat! Is that a torn-down 515769-001 ? Are there instructions on how to do this somewhere?

Very cool!
 

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
1,095
642
113
Wow, this is really neat! Is that a torn-down 515769-001 ? Are there instructions on how to do this somewhere?

Very cool!
It (they) absolutely is. It involves:

- Taking apart the PDB casing (since you can't bolt it to anything other than an HP chassis)
- Finding a way to bolt it on to your chassis - Hint: Adhesive backed plastic standoffs work great!
- Snipping off a bunch of wires that control all sorts of HP specific functions.
- Jumpering two wires that essentially turn into it a regular ATX PSU
- Optionally re-pinning/new connectors, if needed. (The 24 pin ATX and 8/4 pin EPS connectors are standard)
- Enjoy. You now have a 1U compatible PSU that is practically silent, ~94% efficient and can be had for peanuts on fleabay.

Edit: One of these days I should do a write-up on these. Too many things too little time... :)
 

ullbeking

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
506
70
28
45
London
Seasonic Males psus that are compatible with some chenbro Chassis.
I've heard mixed opinions about Chenbro based on other people's experiences, but many of them have been great. One day when I need a (cheaper) chassis for an experimental system I'll invest in one.

Are you looking to replace the psus in Supermicro Chassis with other vendors psus?
Yes. After spending a LOT of time trying to determine the cause of power problems in my Supermicro SC747 chassis ( https://www.supermicro.com/en/roducts/chassis/4U/747/SC747TG-R1400B-SQ ) I have realized that their power supply circuitry is not as good as I was expecting. I spent a LOT of time trying regularly consulting the upstream system integrator and vendor, once in a three-way discussion with Supermicro involved too. I am feeling like "that customer" and I would rather figure it out myself anyway because that vendor offers support that leaves a lot to be desired. however the computer in essence is really wonderful and unique.

This machine was originally purchased to function as a powerful tower workstation with a specific purpose. I have a few ideas so I will try them before repurposing it as a server in an SC846 and putting it some where it can not be seen or heard, which is :-( considering what I want to do with it.
 
Last edited:

Wolfstar

Active Member
Nov 28, 2015
159
83
28
48
At the risk of sounding a bit dumb, OP have you tried actually replacing the PDB-PT747-4648 in your chassis? I mean, if you've got some sort of warranty support of any kind, I would think that would be a logical step for them to have tried, but if the support isn't great then maybe they didn't. If you really want to keep it, and the PSUs themselves are supposed to be pretty solid, then that'd be the next step I'd take. Unfortunately, SM appears to be out of stock and new ones on eBay are running around $150.