If you are buying a power distribution unit for your server rack and staring at a spec sheet full of C13, C19 and NEMA 5-15R outlets, here is the short answer: most of your equipment will plug into C13 outlets, anything with a big power supply needs C19, and NEMA is the wall-side standard you … Read more
If your rack draws 600 watts, a typical 1500VA rack UPS will keep it alive for roughly 10 to 16 minutes — enough for a graceful shutdown, not an afternoon of uptime. The honest shortcut formula is: Runtime (minutes) ≈ (battery voltage × amp-hours × 0.5) ÷ load in watts × 60. That 0.5 is … Read more
If your rack is outgrowing its power feed, the answer is usually three-phase power — but only once your load passes roughly 6 kW. Below that, single-phase is cheaper, simpler, and available in almost every home and small office. The real decision comes down to one number: how many watts your rack actually draws, and … Read more
If you are choosing a rack PDU and you are torn between a metered and a switched model, here is the short answer: buy a metered PDU if you only need to see how much power your rack is drawing, and buy a switched PDU if you also need to turn individual outlets on and … Read more
A typical full 42U server rack draws between 3 kW and 8 kW in a small business setup, and 10 to 20 kW or more in a dense enterprise deployment. A half-filled homelab rack with a few servers, a switch, and a NAS usually sits around 400 to 1,500 watts — roughly the same as … Read more
Per-outlet metering, remote switching, environmental sensors — smart PDU features keep growing. A 2026 framework for deciding what is worth it.
A UPS buys you time, not invincibility. Learn the three topologies, how to size runtime for graceful shutdowns, and exactly what to plug in where.
Sizing a PDU is simple math plus smart headroom. Learn the amps-to-watts conversion, the 80% rule, and how to plan for growth without overspending.
Basic, metered, monitored, switched — PDU types differ in what they tell you and what they let you do. Learn which level your rack actually needs.