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 threadmjuarez4d ago

Not to be _that_ guy, but it was technically -48V DC.

Honestly, that was pretty surprising to me when I had to work with some telco equipment a couple of decades ago. To this day, I don't think I've encountered anything else that requires negative voltage relative to ground.

Show threadbluGill
positive ground used to be in all cars. When they went from 6 volts to 12 the disadvantages became appearant fast and so everyone went negative ground then (mid 1950s). I am not clear why positive ground was bad (maybe corrosion?)
Mar 25 at 2:31amWeb