jnord4d ago

In Edison’s Revenge, Data Centers Are Transitioning From AC to DC

https://spectrum.ieee.org/data-center-dc

Data Center DC Embraces 800V Power Shift

Could switching to 800 V DC be the key to more efficient data centers?

IEEE Spectrum
Show threadotterley4d ago

DC power has been an option for datacenter equipment since I was a young lad racking and stacking hardware. Cisco, Dell, HPE, IBM, and countless others all had DC supply options. Same with PDUs. What’s old is new again.

See e.g. https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000221234/wiring-in...

PowerEdge: Wiring instructions for a DC power supply unit | Dell US

This article provides some checklist to prevent unnecessary components replacement on DC power supply implementation.

Show threadbluGill4d ago
48vdc was common in phone exchanges. They filled the basement with lead-acid batteries and to could run without the grid for a couple weeks. In turn the phone was 99.999% reliable for decades.
Show threadMathMonkeyMan

Yeah I always heard that the phone lines carried their own power, and in Florida the phones did keep working when the power went out, but I never knew why.

So the grid was always charging up the lead acid batteries, and the phone lines were always draining them? Or was there some kind of power switching going on where when the grid was available the batteries would just get "topped off" occasionally and were only drained when the power went out?

Mar 25 at 2:21amWeb
Show threadbluGill4d ago
Grid charging batteries, phone draining them as I understand. Of course there were switches all over the us so I can't make blanket claims but from what I hear that was normal.