Eaton PDU question

[Joshh]

Not sure this is the right sub forum/category but I am also not sure what would be the correct spot. I am looking at a new PDU, wondering if this could be used on a standard 120v us outlet? Im not great with the various types of connectors...

Eaton EMO115-10 G3 Metered PDU, 10 ft cord, C20/L6-20, (21) C13 (3) C19 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Eaton EMO115-10 G3 Metered PDU, 10 ft cord, C20/L6-20, (21) C13 (3) C19 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

It looks like it supports input of 100 to 240v. Would I just get a L6-20p to 5-15?

 

[BlueFox]

Input is C20, so, 20A circuit needed. L6-20 to C20 cable would be all you need, assuming you have the former on your outlet. If on the other hand, you're trying to use regular 5-15 household outlets, that's not going to work.

 

[Joshh]

Got it. Thank you for the info.

 

[Scott Laird]

I bought 3 of these from this listing. I'm using one on a regular 15A 120V circuit. It has a C20 power input and came with modular power cords, so I just swapped in a C20 to NEMA 5-15 cord and everything mostly worked, except all of its alarms went off because it came programmed for 240V operation and 120V was way under its alert threshold. That only took a few clicks to fix.

You'll probably also want to do a firmware upgrade on these; the stock firmware is ancient.

 

[Scott Laird]

Also, there's *generally* no downside (other than cost) to plugging something like a power strip that's rated for >15A into a 15A circuit, as long as you don't try to draw more than 15A. It's not going to draw >15A on its own, and your upstream breaker will do its thing and protect the wiring from overheating if you try drawing more than 15A for an extended period of time. You'd be much worse off with (say) a PDU rated for 5A plugged into a 15A circuit and trying to pull 12A through it. Having wiring that is *too* heavy is rarely a problem.

 

[BlueFox]

This PDU has 20A outlets. It would not be wise to have it connected to a 15A household outlet. Even if your circuit breaker is 20A, the wiring may not be adequate for above 15A at each outlet. Trying to maintain a low load is just playing with fire, no pun intended.

 

[Scott Laird]

It doesn't actually have 20A outlets, it has C13 (originally supposed to be 13A) and C19 (16A originally). You're not going to plug a NEMA 5-20 plug into it easily. And even if you did, you'd just blow the breaker, which is the best possible thing to go wrong.

Anyway, 20-ish C13s can pull a hell of a lot more current than a single 20A plug. Pretty much everything electric can be oversubscribed; that's not a problem. The problem happens when something *other* than a breaker is the weak part of the system.