[c-nsp] Multiple power supply failures. Advise needed

[Justin Shore]

Michael Ulitskiy wrote:
> I forgot to mention that after the 1st wave of failures we have installed tripp lite 
> surge protectors on all circuits. These last failures happened with tripp lites installed,
> so it shouldn't be transients.
> 
> The events are random.  Happened during daytime, night-time, weekdays, weekend. 
> I can't see any pattern. 
> 
> Moving out is a last recourse which I hate to think about, but sure is an option that's being considered. 
> Just been there half a year ago.

Here's a little secret about surge protectors.  Most of them flat out 
suck.  Most of them are of no use unless the surge is extremely large 
such as what you'd expect from a lightning strike.  In reality a surge 
protector should clamp down at 150v or less.  I saw a demo once of 
several different brands of surge protectors that we supplied to a 
distributor of another brand.  Most of the ones we'd supplied had 
apparently already been hit and had blown the pot.  A few were actually 
good.  200+ volts passing through them and they still hadn't tripped. 
The APC actually melted in the demo (which explained the concrete board 
they laid on our table under the surge strips).  Then the reseller 
brouht out a Panamax surge protector.  He started walking up the voltage 
from 110.  At around 140v it tripped.  Walked it back down and the surge 
strip came back on.  It doesn't fry itself tripping like most of the 
other brands do.  Then he walked it down from 110v.  At around 90v it 
tripped as well.  It cuts off for under-voltage which is a major problem 
in the rural areas I come from.

http://www.panamax.com/Products/Floor-Models/M8-EX.aspx

I would highly recommend Panamax brand surge protectors to anyone.  Not 
all of them cut off for under-voltage so look at the specs carefully. 
The one I linked to does of course.  It's worth the slight premium to 
buy the good stuff.  I don't buy anything else anymore.  We didn't test 
Tripp Lite so I don't know how they stack up.  For $40 you can be sure 
though with a good Panamax.

One thing that you might consider is placing a decent manageable UPS in 
your rack.  You don't have to put a load on it.  Use it to monitor the 
line condition for irregularities.  Manageable UPSs tend to be much 
cheaper than commercial power quality monitoring equipment.  With that 
data in hand you can approach your colo provider.

Justin