Do modern power supplies auto switch to 240v???

Archaea

Archaea

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I have two of these 850 Watt EVGA G3 PSU
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438092

I have one of these Raidmax Vampire 1000 watt PSU
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...dmax_vampire_1000_watt-_-17-152-059-_-Product

I have one of these Thortech Thundervolt 1200 watt PSU
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817144008


All of these PSU's power my Mining rigs.

My house was wired for an electric range with a 40 AMP 240v line. We installed a gas range and now the 240v line is just sitting idle (off of course). It happens to be right by my mining rack.

I've read it's more efficient to run PSU's on 240v than 120v so....

Question:
Each of these power supplies state they run 100-240V in the specs, but there is no switch on the back of the PSUs to change the input voltage. Is this automatically done internally? Am I at risk of damaging these PSUs by plugging them into a 240V line?

E9BD377B-6C03-47F1-AB82-64AEBBD81C34.jpeg
6FD1C3F3-F038-45E1-BDBB-7C8B63E7E717.jpeg

 
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Yes it should work with no issue other then making a proper plug that will not burn your house down.

I would recommend making something like a board that has an oven whip on one end and then make 3 plugs with a 240v twist lock type of recepticles (making sure to use #8 thhn copper between plugs) so no one could easily plug anything else into the outlet and so your psu cords won't come out easily... then you just need to cut off the end of your 120v cords and install a male twist lock plug... The cost of the parts just to make this possible would be pretty high.. that is as long as your not just going to rig something dangerous up...
 
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hitched,

I was thinking I'd buy a server PDU to distribute out the power to the power supplies.

I can then terminate the electric range wire with a 30amp plug end - making it like a big extension cord of sorts? Plug the PDU into the 30 amp plug and away we go.

Something like this for the termination of the wire
https://www.amazon.com/Socket-NEMA-...pID=31U6hbzCeaL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Then these are the PDUs I’m considering:

$57 bucks – simple 24 amp strip with on/off toggles (Spectrum)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Spectrum-Power-Management-PDU-220V/172955049042?_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D48736%26meid%3Dbfe915bb5bba4332b2ebaeb610f3b9df%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D172832377895&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982


$83 – monitoring PDU with an amperage LCD readout, and a ridiculous number of plugs, 24 amp, (HP)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-HP-AF914A-PWR-Monitoring-PDU-Ph-1-24A-200-240VAC-24-x-C13-3-x-C19-NEMA-L6-30/122700555807?_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D48736%26meid%3Dbfe915bb5bba4332b2ebaeb610f3b9df%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D172832377895&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982


$84 – 240V breaker box with four on/off toggles (EMC) (amp rating???)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/EMC-EMC2-Clariion-100-885-167-Rack-12-Outlet-PDU-w-100-885-142-240V-Breaker-Box/282598435202?hash=item41cc2de982:g:RL8AAOSw6KVZhIIf
same thing as above from another seller used for $67 - just linked for another shot of pictures since it's hard to see what's going on.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/EMC-EMC2-Clariion-100-885-167-Rack-12-Outlet-PDU-w-100-885-142-240V-Breaker-Box/272886597105?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D48736%26meid%3D52a86e23f4fb4729980a3f261f7d5ac3%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D282598435202&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851


But I'm not very familiar with 240v, and am open to suggestions. I know 240v is very dangerous, even deadly if I don't take precautions when doing the wiring - so I'll not be taking chances. That said, this is likely a temporary setup - and I own the house - so I'm not terribly worried about making it absolutely permanent either.
 
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Archaea,

Unless you are going to need 120v and 240v, you do not need the l14 plug, as that has the neutral line as well as the two hots and a ground. Typically, for just 200-240v you'd need an l6 style plug. Like an l6-30 here on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-C262...pID=41JN2Um0MaL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Make sure the pdu you purchase has the same plug end, and you are off to the races. You'd probably need to pick up a few pdu style cables, so look for something like a c13-c14 cable that's 14 gauge.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com...S1DKI%2BeL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1

Outside of that, your PSUs will be just fine as long as they are active pfc. You can look in the specs to find out. Basically, if they are, the automagically adjust to the correct voltage.

Feel free to drop me a line if you have other questions....
 
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Make sure everything is protected by a breaker that's rated LESS than anything you'll be putting behind it. I see a 40amp breaker, but 20-30amp parts.. That's a no-no without additional protection devices. (same goes for 120v)


And yes, if the PSU specs say 100v-240v and not something like "100-120v / 200-240v" with a switch, it's auto-ranging and will work just fine for what you're wanting to do.
 
That Clariion PDU is 30 amp, and has it's own dedicated breaker. It's a good choice.
 
xrealm20 said:
That Clariion PDU is 30 amp, and has it's own dedicated breaker. It's a good choice.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the feedback guys - it's appreciated and helps me think this through.



What about something like this that says specifically 208V???
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-AF521A-...778308?hash=item1a33b6f644:g:8hgAAOSwg7VZnEOt

It's still single phase, but is that a different voltage spec altogether since it's not 230v or 240v???

I like the little LCD screen that includes specific amp draw readouts for each plug on that PDU. It only has six outlets - but that's enough for what I'm doing and it's 40amp rated. A better picture:
https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/H...ion-Unit-power-distribution-unit/2125013.aspx

Capture.PNG
 
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Just plug at 240v and be done with it. My house has both 220v and 110v devices and i mode my PCs around without worrying about actual voltage .
are those fire marks at the top 40A breaker?
 
You'd be better off to get the Clariion one... that HP requires an even more specialized connector end as it's a 40amp unit, as you indicated.

I'd stick with the ones that support 200-240v, personally... Some of the PDUs rated for 208 would treat 240+ volts as an over voltage issue, and shut down depending on their logic.
 
ryan_975 said:
Make sure everything is protected by a breaker that's rated LESS than anything you'll be putting behind it. I see a 40amp breaker, but 20-30amp parts.. That's a no-no without additional protection devices. (same goes for 120v)
Click to expand...

My assumption was most of these PDU's would have internal breakers? I'll try to ensure whatever I purchase does have that or is rated appropriately!
 
Archaea said:
My assumption was most of these PDU's would have internal breakers? I'll try to ensure whatever I purchase does have that or is rated appropriately!
Click to expand...

The internal breakers would protect anything plugged into the PDU, yes. I'm more concerned with the 30a twist lock receptacle you'd be plugging the PDU into.
 
Having a bit higher breaker than what is plugged in is rather common. Your home wall outlets are on a 15 amp breaker and your iPhone charger uses less than 1 amp.

While it’s 100% code for the outlets and the breaker to match amperage, the multiple internal breakers and branch circuit breaker in the Clariion pdu will mitigate the risk.
 
ryan_975 said:
The internal breakers would protect anything plugged into the PDU, yes. I'm more concerned with the 30a twist lock receptacle you'd be plugging the PDU into.
Click to expand...
ah...I get it.
Don't let the twist connect be a bottleneck between what the PDU can provide and the 40 amps the breaker provides.
But if the PDU has internal breakers rated at less than the 30AMP of the twist lock - no problem right? (because the PDU would trip before the 30 amp twist lock could overheat).


The EMC Clarion PDU would be fine (I too was drawn to the ability to have an on/off switch locally (should one of the PC's lock up - that beats physically unplugging the power cords) - I wish it had a meter on it, so I could tell how much power I was drawing - but I guess that's more a nice to have than a must have.
 
Archaea said:
ah...I get it.
Don't let the twist connect be a bottleneck between what the PDU can provide and the 40 amps the breaker provides.
But if the PDU has internal breakers rated at less than the 30AMP of the twist lock - no problem right? (because the PDU would trip before the 30 amp twist lock could overheat).


The EMC Clarion PDU would be fine - I wish it had a meter on it, so I could tell how much power I was drawing - but I guess that's more a nice to have than a must have.
Click to expand...


As long as a fault doesn't happen between the PDU and the outlet, then sure.


xrealm20 said:
Having a bit higher breaker than what is plugged in is rather common. Your home wall outlets are on a 15 amp breaker and your iPhone charger uses less than 1 amp.

While it’s 100% code for the outlets and the breaker to match amperage, the multiple internal breakers and branch circuit breaker in the Clariion pdu will mitigate the risk.
Click to expand...

better safe than sorry. It's easy to unplug a charger. Not so much a semi-permanently attached receptacle.
 
Agree with the better safe than sorry, I’d change the breaker to a 30a to be 100% code.
 
Archaea said:
Thank you for the feedback guys - it's appreciated and helps me think this through.



What about something like this that says specifically 208V???
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-AF521A-...778308?hash=item1a33b6f644:g:8hgAAOSwg7VZnEOt

It's still single phase, but is that a different voltage spec altogether since it's not 230v or 240v???

I like the little LCD screen that includes specific amp draw readouts for each plug on that PDU. It only has six outlets - but that's enough for what I'm doing and it's 40amp rated. A better picture:
https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/H...ion-Unit-power-distribution-unit/2125013.aspx

View attachment 41828
Click to expand...


It's really two-phase.. but that's not a term that's used. It's for buildings with 208Y/120 three-phase service.
 
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xrealm20 said:
Archaea,

Unless you are going to need 120v and 240v, you do not need the l14 plug, as that has the neutral line as well as the two hots and a ground. Typically, for just 200-240v you'd need an l6 style plug. Like an l6-30 here on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-C262...pID=41JN2Um0MaL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Make sure the pdu you purchase has the same plug end, and you are off to the races. You'd probably need to pick up a few pdu style cables, so look for something like a c13-c14 cable that's 14 gauge.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-PXT100143-Feet-14AWG-Extension/dp/B005WKJPBS/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1509661709&sr=1-4&keywords=c13-c14&dpID=416S1DKI%2BeL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1

Outside of that, your PSUs will be just fine as long as they are active pfc. You can look in the specs to find out. Basically, if they are, the automagically adjust to the correct voltage.

Feel free to drop me a line if you have other questions....
Click to expand...

You mention you'd recommend 14 gauge C13-C14 cables.
14 AWG is good for 15AMP
18 AWG is good for 10AMP
at least according to the generic sales info on the cables

at 220v - 10 amp would be 2,200 watts.

wouldn't a 10amp rated 18AWG standard cable be sufficient to drive these 1000 watt power supplies?

To be sure - I just ordered 14AWG - 6 pack
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075QZMVD7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2ZA4XKXZJG7F4&psc=1

- so it's just a question of curiosity.
 
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In your pic, I don't see a ground, just a red,black and white. Looks like either 8/3 or 6/3 w/o ground. By my limited knowledge of code, you can't use the white/neutral as the ground AND the neutral at the same time. You should be able to wrap green tape around the white and call it ground but then you have no legal neutral.

You need to check with the PS manf and see if they expect a US 240(2 x 120 ref to ground(2 hots + ground)) or European 240(1 x 240 ref to ground(1 hot, 1 neutral, + ground ).

Don't worry about the main panel breaker, its prime function is to protect the wiring.

Do get a local PDU with proper sized protection for your rigs.
 
Dead Parrot said:
In your pic, I don't see a ground, just a red,black and white. Looks like either 8/3 or 6/3 w/o ground. By my limited knowledge of code, you can't use the white/neutral as the ground AND the neutral at the same time. You should be able to wrap green tape around the white and call it ground but then you have no legal neutral.

You need to check with the PS manf and see if they expect a US 240(2 x 120 ref to ground(2 hots + ground)) or European 240(1 x 240 ref to ground(1 hot, 1 neutral, + ground ).

Don't worry about the main panel breaker, its prime function is to protect the wiring.

Do get a local PDU with proper sized protection for your rigs.
Click to expand...

If it's an old house, there probably isn't a dedicated ground conductor for that branch. Up until the 90's, it was very common for ranges and dryers to be wired with just two hots and a neutral with the appliance ground bonded to the neutral at the wiring block. If you repurpose the white conductor for a ground (make sure to mark it properly and move it to the ground bar in the main breaker box), then you just won't have a neutral. There's no requirement to have one if you only need 240v.

There is no difference between 2 hots at 240v or 1 hot + 1 neutral at 240v. There should be no "reference" to ground since the entire reason for it's existence is for safety.
 
House was built in 1985.

My neighbor is a mechanical engineer and a bit of a renaissance man. I’ll probably have him come over and ensure I’m not going to set the place ablaze.
 
220 volt circuits in the US don't normally use neutral (or NEED it) - the exceptions are generally ranges (110 to run the timer and clock on) and such where BOTH 220 AND 110 ARE NEEDED.
Power supplies have ZERO NEED for a neutral connection if they are running on 220 volts.

There is a MAJOR DIFFERENCE in North American wiring between 2 hots vs one hot + 1 neutral - 1 "hot" to neutral is 110 V NOT 220v.
The "neutral" in North American wiring is a version of a CENTER TAP.

Euopean wiring doesn't use neutral, as they don't use 110 at all (as a general rule, might vary with the country).

For a 1200 watt power supply, you're going to be pulling less than 6 amps at 220 even if it's full-loaded, 18AG would be plenty on the power cable even for 24/7 mining operation.
 
Archaea said:
You mention you'd recommend 14 gauge C13-C14 cables.
14 AWG is good for 15AMP
18 AWG is good for 10AMP
at least according to the generic sales info on the cables

at 220v - 10 amp would be 2,200 watts.

wouldn't a 10amp rated 18AWG standard cable be sufficient to drive these 1000 watt power supplies?

To be sure - I just ordered 14AWG - 6 pack
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075QZMVD7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2ZA4XKXZJG7F4&psc=1

- so it's just a question of curiosity.
Click to expand...
I only picked the 14 AWG cables is because most of the 18 AWG cables are not great, in my experience. Considering it's just a bit more expensive, they are worth it...

Also, keep in mind that the length of the cable will impact the amount of amperage you can safely run through the wire. Hence one other reason why I look at the heavier gauge wires for projects like this...
 
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QuintLeo said:
220 volt circuits in the US don't normally use neutral (or NEED it) - the exceptions are generally ranges (110 to run the timer and clock on) and such where BOTH 220 AND 110 ARE NEEDED.
Power supplies have ZERO NEED for a neutral connection if they are running on 220 volts.

There is a MAJOR DIFFERENCE in North American wiring between 2 hots vs one hot + 1 neutral - 1 "hot" to neutral is 110 V NOT 220v.
The "neutral" in North American wiring is a version of a CENTER TAP.

Euopean wiring doesn't use neutral, as they don't use 110 at all (as a general rule, might vary with the country).

For a 1200 watt power supply, you're going to be pulling less than 6 amps at 220 even if it's full-loaded, 18AG would be plenty on the power cable even for 24/7 mining operation.
Click to expand...


EU wiring does use a neutral. They just don't use it to provide split-phase service like the US does.
 
Could I get some wiring confirmation/help please?

The 30amp plug I bought has three labels

X, Y, and G

My 220V cord for the range has 3 wires white, red, and black insulation.

To wire up the plug the white goes to ground, and the red and black go to the other two holes (X and Y) but it doesn’t matter which is which for this two??? Is that right?


EA376A79-C0CD-4339-BDAD-E4E51B7E139D.jpeg
DEA4E29F-F9F4-455A-9E02-9497A30AFB19.jpeg
6D4C28F2-3A0E-4748-AA5A-5A2EC099EC7E.jpeg
 
X and Y are interchangeable.

White is not a ground unless you've marked it accordingly and moved the wire to the ground bar in the breaker box. The reason for this is because there some situations where neutral can become energized, and if you've tied your system's safety grounds to it you would have computer cases that are live with 120v-240v.
 
Archaea said:
Could I get some wiring confirmation/help please?

The 30amp plug I bought has three labels

X, Y, and G

My 220V cord for the range has 3 wires white, red, and black insulation.

To wire up the plug the white goes to ground, and the red and black go to the other two holes (X and Y) but it doesn’t matter which is which for this two??? Is that right?


View attachment 42281 View attachment 42282 View attachment 42283
Click to expand...

I'd recommend you get a licensed electrician to handle this portion of the wiring.
 
Bandalo said:
I'd recommend you get a licensed electrician to handle this portion of the wiring.
Click to expand...
fair enough and I can and will if I can't logically think this through.

I'm a shade tree fixit type. I can do most things through a bit of research and youtube videos/asking people in the know. Be it fixing cars, laying tile, plumbing, remodeling, whatever. I have a neighbor who is a certified electrician and he'll come by and do it for a 1/2 hour charge I'm sure - if it comes to that -- but wiring three wires shouldn't be too complicated. I'm not completely inept. ;)

I have a voltage tester pen - that you place near a 120 volt line and it beeps. I should be able to tell if the white wire is hot with that.

The electric range we had this wire hooked up to worked, before we replaced it with a gas range - so I know the wiring was/is good. I just need to verify which 2, and only 2 of the wires are hot. Then it's just hot wires to X and Y, and ground wire to G.

It seems pretty straight forward. The plug only fits one way (won't snap in if rotated) - so I think it'll be pretty impossible to mess this up. just verifying with those in the know, first.
 
Archaea said:
fair enough and I can and will if I can't logically think this through.

I'm a shade tree fixit type. I can do most things through a bit of research and youtube videos/asking people in the know. Be it fixing cars, laying tile, plumbing, remodeling, whatever. I have a neighbor who is a certified electrician and he'll come by and do it for a 1/2 hour charge I'm sure - if it comes to that -- but wiring three wires shouldn't be too complicated. I'm not completely inept. ;)

I have a voltage tester pen - that you place near a 120 volt line and it beeps. I should be able to tell if the white wire is hot with that.

The electric range we had this wire hooked up to worked, before we replaced it with a gas range - so I know the wiring was/is good. I just need to verify which 2, and only 2 of the wires are hot. Then it's just hot wires to X and Y, and ground wire to G.

It seems pretty straight forward. The plug only fits one way (won't snap in if rotated) - so I think it'll be pretty impossible to mess this up. just verifying with those in the know, first.
Click to expand...

(speaking as a former Navy electrician)

It's not really a question of inept or anything, it's more of licensing and the possible damage caused by an error. If you lay a tile wrong, one might crack, or you'll get a leak. A small error while wiring 240V can kill you, or cause a fire.

If you do have a problem and something is damaged, will your homeowner's insurance cover it when they find out you did the electrical work yourself with no license or experience? Is the existing wiring, breaker panel and associated connectors up to current building code? Tested and operating properly?

Just my personal opinion...I'll do plenty of low-voltage wiring myself, and all kinds of around the house work. But I leave things like this to the pros, just for long-term peace of mind.
 
Archaea said:
fair enough and I can and will if I can't logically think this through.

I'm a shade tree fixit type. I can do most things through a bit of research and youtube videos/asking people in the know. Be it fixing cars, laying tile, plumbing, remodeling, whatever. I have a neighbor who is a certified electrician and he'll come by and do it for a 1/2 hour charge I'm sure - if it comes to that -- but wiring three wires shouldn't be too complicated. I'm not completely inept. ;)

I have a voltage tester pen - that you place near a 120 volt line and it beeps. I should be able to tell if the white wire is hot with that.

The electric range we had this wire hooked up to worked, before we replaced it with a gas range - so I know the wiring was/is good. I just need to verify which 2, and only 2 of the wires are hot. Then it's just hot wires to X and Y, and ground wire to G.

It seems pretty straight forward. The plug only fits one way (won't snap in if rotated) - so I think it'll be pretty impossible to mess this up. just verifying with those in the know, first.
Click to expand...


It's not about knowing it's good now, but what happens if some day you end up with a floating neutral, or the ground bond in the breaker box breaks. 99.9% of the time it's okay. That's why appliances were wired with three wires instead of four... but eventually enough people were hurt that the code was changed. You'll likely never have an issue. But if you do, then it being done right could be the difference between an annoying breaker trip or you laying dead in your own piss when you lean against the rack to unplug it. That's why there is an electrical code.
 
ryan_975 said:
It's not about knowing it's good now, but what happens if some day you end up with a floating neutral, or the ground bond in the breaker box breaks. 99.9% of the time it's okay. That's why appliances were wired with three wires instead of four... but eventually enough people were hurt that the code was changed. You'll likely never have an issue. But if you do, then it being done right could be the difference between an annoying breaker trip or you laying dead in your own piss when you lean against the rack to unplug it. That's why there is an electrical code.
Click to expand...


ryan_975,

I used my voltage sensor to verify the black and the red wires are hot and the white wire is not.

Then, I opened up my panel and verified the white wire was tied to the ground bar in the panel.

From what I've read everything checks out. But I don't care to be laying dead in my own piss, so -- care to confirm?

IMG_0906 - highlight.jpg
 
Archaea said:
ryan_975,

I used my voltage sensor to verify the black and the red wires are hot and the white wire is not.

Then, I opened up my panel and verified the white wire was tied to the ground bar in the panel.

From what I've read everything checks out. But I don't care to be laying dead in my own piss, so -- care to confirm?

View attachment 42490
Click to expand...

Oh, single bar for neutral and ground. I forgot those exist (they're not allowed here). You're good. Just make sure to mark the white wire at the outlet end.
 
ryan_975 said:
Oh, single bar for neutral and ground. I forgot those exist (they're not allowed here). You're good. Just make sure to mark the white wire at the outlet end.
Click to expand...
Okay thanks.

It seems like it works - but my Voltage is measuring at just shy of 250volts at the plug according to my voltmeter with the red and black wire.
All my PSU's are rated for autoswitching 100-240volt. I'm assuming that 250 volt is within tolerance and not going to a problem right? I'd hate to zap a $120 PSU right out of the gate.
 
xrealm20 said:
You'd be better off to get the Clariion one... that HP requires an even more specialized connector end as it's a 40amp unit, as you indicated.

I'd stick with the ones that support 200-240v, personally... Some of the PDUs rated for 208 would treat 240+ volts as an over voltage issue, and shut down depending on their logic.
Click to expand...
'
I ended up buying the HP (because I really wanted those LCD amp readouts to help me keep tabs on my power use), but I think you were right here. The HP has amber lights instead of the green lights, which in the manual indicate an overvolt condition. I don't think it'll shutdown, and an alarm hasn't sounded yet or anything, but just figured I'd confirm your suspicion for anyone following along. I'm really happy with the quality and feel of this PDU. For the money I paid I think I got a heck of a bargain.
 
Archaea said:
Okay thanks.

It seems like it works - but my Voltage is measuring at just shy of 250volts at the plug according to my voltmeter with the red and black wire.
All my PSU's are rated for autoswitching 100-240volt. I'm assuming that 250 volt is within tolerance and not going to a problem right? I'd hate to zap a $120 PSU right out of the gate.
Click to expand...


+/-5% is normal. So as long as your not getting more than 252v (assuming your meter is accurate), it's fine.
 
Just a check-in.

The 220V setup and PDU is working fantastic. The LCD screen on the HP AF914A is really nice, and I'm glad I chose this option.

I can tell the advantage of 220v easily. One of my rigs with 12 RX580 cards in it lost it's undervolt settings and went from 10 amp draw to 14 amp draw in the process. 14AMP draw at 240 volt is 3360 watts. The rig has just three powers supplies. Two Gold Rated 850 EVGA G3 and one Gold rated 1000 Raidmax Vampire. Each PSU has four cards, and the Raidmax also powers the mining motherboard with a Pentium G4560 CPU. 850+850+1000 = 2700 watt capability --so the 3360 draw was absolutely an overload. I don't know how long it ran like that (at most a few hours), but I'd think had I been at 120V source power, those PSU's would have overloaded and shut down. The issue hasn't happened again - it happened because I was testing the limits of the undervolt overclock (RAM pumped up to 2,200Mhz), and checking the rig every few hours to see if a card crashed. Usually, previously, it was just one or two cards that crashed and reset wattman settings - which wasn't a problem. In this instance all reset to default - hence the huge jump in overall power draw. I could tell the amp draw from the PDU's LCD screen. Everything kept right on running. I'm back down to 2100Mhz memory and it's been stable since at 10AMP.


It sure is nice to run all three rigs of the one PDU. One of my rigs runs 10 AMPs (12 AMD RX 580), One of my rigs runs 4 or 5 amps (12 Nvidia 1060), One of my rigs runs 5 amps (7 Nvidia 1080TI)
 
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Archaea said:
Just a check-in.

The 220V setup and PDU is working fantastic. The LCD screen on the HP AF914A is really nice, and I'm glad I chose this option.

I can tell the advantage of 220v easily. One of my rigs with 12 RX580 cards in it lost it's undervolt settings and went from 10 amp draw to 14 amp draw in the process. 14AMP draw at 240 volt is 3360 watts. The rig has just three powers supplies. Two Gold Rated 850 EVGA G3 and one Gold rated 1000 Raidmax Vampire. Each PSU has four cards, and the Raidmax also powers the mining motherboard with a Pentium G4560 CPU. 850+850+1000 = 2700 watt capability --so the 3360 draw was absolutely an overload. I don't know how long it ran like that, but I'd think had I been at 120V source power, those PSU's would have overloaded and shut down. The issue hasn't happened again - it happened because I was testing the limits of the undervolt overclock (RAMP pumped up to 2,200Mhz), and checking the rig every few hours to see if a card crashed. Usually, previously, it was just one or two cards that crashed and reset wattman settings - which wasn't a problem. In this instance all reset to default - hence the huge jump in overall power draw. I could tell the amp draw from the PDU's LCD screen. Everything kept right on running. I'm back down to 2100Mhz memory and it's been stable since at 10AMP.


It sure is nice to run all three rigs of the one PDU. One of my rigs runs 10 AMPs (12 AMD RX 580), One of my rigs runs 5 amps (12 Nvidia 1060), One of my rigs runs 5 amps (7 Nvidia 1080TI)
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For a Gold rated PSU, 3360w at the wall is only 2960w from the PSU.. Still overloaded, but not by too much really (~85w per PSU). At 120v, you'd have been pulling the same wattage (2960w) from the PSUs, but would have been pulling close to 29 amps (3480w) from the wall. The PSUs wouldn't have shut down for overloading since it would still see the same load. They would have run a little hotter and louder due to the extra heat from conversion losses. Your 120v breaker would have tripped though (assuming you had them all on the same branch).
 
ryan_975 said:
For a Gold rated PSU, 3360w at the wall is only 2960w from the PSU.. Still overloaded, but not by too much really (~85w per PSU). At 120v, you'd have been pulling the same wattage (2960w) from the PSUs, but would have been pulling close to 29 amps (3480w) from the wall. The PSUs wouldn't have shut down for overloading since it would still see the same load. They would have run a little hotter and louder due to the extra heat from conversion losses. Your 120v breaker would have tripped though (assuming you had them all on the same branch).
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Hopefully tripped. Or melted if it didn't. Total capacity on a standard 120v circuit is only like 1800W - and that's for the entire circuit, including anything else that might be plugged in.
 
Joust said:
Hopefully tripped. Or melted if it didn't. Total capacity on a standard 120v circuit is only like 1800W - and that's for the entire circuit, including anything else that might be plugged in.
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<nitpick> total capacity for 120v @ 15a is 1800w. </nitpick> 120v @ 20a (2400w) is pretty common too, particularly in kitchens, utility rooms, and garages.
 
ryan_975 said:
<nitpick> total capacity for 120v @ 15a is 1800w. </nitpick> 120v @ 20a (2400w) is pretty common too, particularly in kitchens, utility rooms, and garages.
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That's true. The sideways-plug slot (probably has a name, don't know it). I assumed garden-variety 3-slot 15amp circuit.
 
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