From: Alex Rubenstein <alex@corp.nac.net> Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 15:43:20 -0400
I have a pure curiosity question for the NANOG crowd here. If you run your facility/datacenter/cage/rack on 120 volts, why?
Because we are stupid.
I've been running my facility at 208 for years because I can get away with lower amperage circuits. I'm curious about the reasons for using high-amp 120 volt circuits to drive racks of equipment instead of low-amp 208 or 240 volt circuits.
That makes you smarter than the average guy.
But, if we were really smart, we'd run at least 277, or maybe 347. Countless amounts of money would be saved on losses (transformation), copper (smaller wire), and many other areas. Most of the stuff we all run is already insulated for these voltage levels.
Even better would be all two pole 2 pole 480's or 2 pole 600's, then we wouldn't need neutrals.
Oh, yeah! Nothing sounds like more fun than working in a room full of 480 or 600 delta. I LIKE neutrals. (Sort of like I like continuing to have a functioning heart.) -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4 EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751