HGST 4U60 + janky power setup, thoughts?

[datahoarder87]

Good evening Gents and sorry about this wall of text for only a few questions (links in bold), but I also wanted to share my path + research up to this point + janky stuff. I needed to expand upon my current Norco 4220 20bay, so I considered just sas expanding from a Norco 4224 24bay, Chenbro NR40700 48bay, Supermicro 48bay, Supermicro 846 24bay. The Chenbro is nice but End of Life has to be considered plus modding it, the Supermicros are good but currently expensive for being used plus I already have a MOBO+CPU, and the Norco along with the others will have added costs of sas expander, cables, and power control board. This made the HGST 4u60 bay (pictures under the Product Photos) "Shucked" viable for me, so I pulled the trigger on that and it's on the way. It's brand new, but it's a behemoth +37" long, about 100lbs empty / +205lbs filled, and 200-240V (I'm on 120v)... I'm also planning on leaving 1 of the 2 PSUs (1650W each) unplugged to extend its life, but will plug it in once/twice a month during manual snapraid changes. I figured that a replacement PSU could cost big $$$ later on, plus I'm thinking that using the PSUs like this that something else will fail before both PSUs fail?

I'm using a mix of 4TB+8TB drives, but I'll just plan for 60x 8TB @ 6.8W each (operating), plus the bare HGST jbod takes about 75W, so fully loaded and cookin' about 483W max. The user guide pdf states power usage 1.0 kVA Typical and 1.8kVA Max (only 50% Power Factor at best?), which I'm understanding is different than watts and the UPS should exceed both ratings. I'm on 120V with 20A breaker so 2400W max, but suggested 80% of that for continuous usage so 1920W(16A). Some other things are also on that breaker, but it should be plenty. I don't know how this changes with the transformers below and 240V... 240V*16A=3840W??? The jbod PSU states 200-240VAC auto-ranging 47Hz-63Hz "high line power only", but I'm guessing that is for warranty reasons so someone doesn't try to use a janky method like I am proposing below...

I'm currently in an apartment and can't change the wiring, so I started researching step-up transformers. This gets trickier with questionable and unclear transformer documentation plus lack of reviews, along with the Watts vs VA ratings mixed in. I roughly grouped them together based on design. The first group's design seems like more points of failure with the extra output plugs that I don't need. The second group is heavy (which I interpret as higher quality), but appear cheap price wise (lower quality hidden some where?). The third group ACUPWR seems a tad too pricey and doesn't even list VA anywhere (not sure if that is good or bad). Instead they suggest choosing their product that has 2x to 3x of Watt rating for your needs. Out of all of them the Todd Systems in the third grouping seemed the most balanced, as its Watts are shown equal to the VA, but I'm still lost with how that applies to the jbod's Watt vs VA. I was looking at their 750W 3.2A, 1000W 4.3A, 1500W 6.5A. Probably just be safe with the 1500W, which is $260...
1st = Seyas 1000W ; Simran AC-3000 ; International Diamond Series
2nd = Simran THG-3000T ; VOD 3000 ; VT-4000
3rd = ACUPWR 1000 ; ACUPWR 1500 , Todd Systems (Table format at bottom after you click on one)

Then comes the freakin UPS debacle. I current have a CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD 1000VA/600W and that will probably need upgraded to their 1500VA/900W? Both of these are also 120v UPS and in theory I figured I could just plug a transformer into one of them... Janky, but ok to do? I was also looking at some 240V UPS like Eaton 5P 1550iR but I couldn't find any new that were reasonable in price and this VUPS-1000 almost seemed too cheap, plus lack of reviews. Thanks in advance for all responses.

 

[ecosse]

No idea from me but you might want to post this question in the thread in the "for sale" section - there were a couple of people asking similar questions if you get to the thread and then search on that thread only.

 

[datahoarder87]

Update: Brushed off some dust on my brain and made sense of the V x A = W. So since I was looking at transformers that only plug into one breaker then they cant magically change 120V into 240V, the amps get halved, so still 1920W. There was one transformer that I didn't link, but it requires two inputs of 120V, which have to be off of separate breakers. In that case they get 240V, but get 8A+8A, resulting in the wattage doubling to 3840W. I didn't like the idea of running an extension cord for that transformer, plus it is too much beef for my usage.

 

[datahoarder87]

No idea from me but you might want to post this question in the thread in the "for sale" section - there were a couple of people asking similar questions if you get to the thread and then search on that thread only.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check that out now. I did already read the one thread from a year or so ago, when these went on sale for dirt cheap, but most there direct wired the 240V.

 

[ecosse]

You're doing a hell of a lot more research than I ever did - I just loaded it with hard drives and hoped for the best

 

[datahoarder87]

Did you try any 2TB HDDs in yours?

I have a knack at making simple things, very complicated, hah... Also I'm not too trusting of these products just because they are on Amazon. That doesn't mean that they are good or even sold by the company that makes them. It can be a shady reseller selling earlier revisions, cheap knock offs, and poorly made stuff. Not to mention the fake reviews both in favor and against a product.