The lowly Rack PDU / Power Strip / UPS

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Robert Fontaine

Active Member
Jan 9, 2018
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I've been looking for a decent 1U Power Strip -
Basics:
- 15AMP
- 8 standard plugs on the back
- 1 or 2 plugs on the front
- reasonable surge protection/fuse
- reasonable price / high value

Nice to haves:
- power meter on the front
- more than one zone/switch
- order switching ( not sure what this is called but having things turn on one at a time).

I will probably be purchasing a UPS to put behind this at some point so I am not really looking for the extended feature set that will come with a line interactive UPS.

Looked at the art 4x4 and the cyber power basic. Any others that I should be looking at?
 

Robert Fontaine

Active Member
Jan 9, 2018
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I'm not looking for people selling things... I'm looking for recommendations from guys who have built racks.
 

Blinky 42

Active Member
Aug 6, 2015
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APC/Schneider Electric, Eaton, TrippLite (cheaper but lower quality in my experience) all make passive, metered, and switched 1U PDU's in the most common voltages.
The switched ones usually can be configured to stagger or group outlets for turn on/off.

Typically only the passive models will have plugs on both sides, an exception that comes to mind it TrippLite automtic transfer switch PDU's that have > 8 switched outlets in 1U with outlets on both sides.
 

Blinky 42

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Aug 6, 2015
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We have a few hundred of the AP70xx units for work. You can control them with a telnet/ssh based CLI, a web UI or SNMP pretty easy. SNMP would be the most flexible for automating it with normal scripting languages, although you can hack up code to use the other 2 methods.
Be sure you test them out fully when you get them used, there are a few failure modes that are not apparent just plugging them into the wall and waiting the 2-3 seconds for the relays to turn on all the outlets.
I would recommend going in with the serial cable and reset the unit to factory defaults and then manually toggle each outlet to make sure that work. Then update the firmware to a recent version to test out the controller's insides fully.
 
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StevenDTX

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Aug 17, 2016
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Be sure you test them out fully when you get them used, there are a few failure modes that are not apparent just plugging them into the wall and waiting the 2-3 seconds for the relays to turn on all the outlets.
I second this. I bought a 7901 off of ebay a couple of months ago and the management interface rebooted itself every 15-20 seconds, even with an updated firmware.
 
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Blinky 42

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Aug 6, 2015
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What about the AP7921? any issues with this particular model?
The AP7921 is functionally the same as the AP7901, but with C13/C14 connectors. It is handy as it can work on 115/208/240 well, I set them up in the office with 115 and deploy them around the world without problems.
 

epicurean

Active Member
Sep 29, 2014
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@Blinky42 . Thanks for your feedback.
I got a unit(AP7921) off ebay, but I cannot figure out its previous static ip address to link to it. Unfortunately it did not come with the configuration cable. Its definately not getting an ip address from my DHCP server.
 

Robert Fontaine

Active Member
Jan 9, 2018
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1. Hold down the button for 7 seconds...
It will flash IP and then present the IP Address 2 digits at a time.

If it reads 00-00-00... then it has been reset then
acquire the MAC Address
i) easy way - read the sticker
ii) not as easy - install wireshark, plug in directly, scan the port and press the button... you will see amer... and the mac address.

With mac address in hand
arp -i 192.168.1.42 mac_address to update your arp table.

now you should be able to ping the pdu.
ping 192.168.1.42 -l 113 will push the IP into the pdu.

at this point you should be able to connect via port 80 to the web interface.
 

fractal

Active Member
Jun 7, 2016
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Love the 79xx off eBay. But recovering the IP address can be tricky. Fortunately Robert tells you how to do it. Google told me.

They are NOT indestructible so what you get off eBay may have bad outlets.

Like many out there, I have a half dozen varying from total current only to switchable outlets. They work great.