So, I'm an American, living in America, using American data centers. All my equipment expects single-phase (or split-phase, which functions similarly from the point of view of the equipment) power. All my equipment (save for the PDUs) are rated for anything between 100v-240v
My understanding is that my equipment runs more efficently on 208v than on 120v. The problem is that my data center charges me more per-watt if I buy a 208v circuit. (oddly, the 120v circuits are cheapest per-watt, 208v is the most expensive, at exactly twice the cost per amp of the 120v circuits when it should be *1.73, and the 3 phase circuits are between the two. I mean, with 208v, they'd have to balance the third phase, so I can see charging something, but with a 3 phase, the balancing is my problem, so I don't see why they'd charge more than 3x what they charge for 120v for 3 phase. I mean, this is at data centers that can handle north of 10Kw of load per rack. It just seems weird to me that I should get 5 20a 120v circuits rather than a smaller number of 3 phase. Am I missing something? or are data centers charging you the least for the power that costs them the most (in terms of efficency) - I guess it could be that the weirdness of having 'different' power is a bigger deal than any efficency gains; I have not, in fact, quantified these efficency gains, they could be quite small. If it's just me misunderstanding things, please reccomend a good "Electricity for Systems Administrators" book. _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
