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Power supply blew up. Finding the root cause of the problem
Finding the root cause of the problem when power supply burned
I am trying to find out the root cause of the problem that caused power supply to burn. We had APC Smart UPS and id didn’t prevent the surge.
Now, I contacted APC and electrician. We are getting two dedicated circuits for out new server. How can I make sure that surge won’t happen again and will burn the entire server. What questions should I ask to find out what exactly happened and why the surge set server on fire? Is it electrical problem? APC failed? Would like to really find out what exactly caused it and what precautions I need to make sure that it won’t happen again. Please, advice on UDP, APC, voltage, circuits, Power supply and heating/cooling.
Thank you so much
I am trying to find out the root cause of the problem that caused power supply to burn. We had APC Smart UPS and id didn’t prevent the surge.
Now, I contacted APC and electrician. We are getting two dedicated circuits for out new server. How can I make sure that surge won’t happen again and will burn the entire server. What questions should I ask to find out what exactly happened and why the surge set server on fire? Is it electrical problem? APC failed? Would like to really find out what exactly caused it and what precautions I need to make sure that it won’t happen again. Please, advice on UDP, APC, voltage, circuits, Power supply and heating/cooling.
Thank you so much
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Agree with patterned and briancassin. Power supplies fail all the time for any number of reasons. If the APC UPS is still operational, it didn't let a surge through.
I would imagine the cost of getting the answer you want will probably be more than you really want to spend for it. You would likely have to have some kind of professional forensics done on the power supply to find out what really happened. The best you can probably do is to make sure your current is 100% correct. Even at that, there is always some risk that a minor flaw leads to a major failure.
A few months ago our phone system's power supply literally went up in flames. I've seen PC power supplies go up in smoke for no apparent reason than internal component failure.
Make sure your AC wiring is correct. Use good UPSs with surge protection. That's all you can reasonably do on the source side. Failures can and do still occur. Redundant power supplies in critical servers are your friend.
Make sure your AC wiring is correct. Use good UPSs with surge protection. That's all you can reasonably do on the source side. Failures can and do still occur. Redundant power supplies in critical servers are your friend.
I agree too. Unless you have extensive electronic troubleshooting skills, knowledge, and equipment, you will not be able to isolate the cause of the failure.
ASKER
Model number of APC is 620 SC
Smart UPS
Yes. it is still functional, but I sent it back anyway for the replacement.
The power supply for the server is 210 Walts.
Now. We had an electrician to coming this morning and install three separate circuits in the room.
So I will plug one power supply to one circuit and another one in another circuit. Right? and I will have APC to test the power load from the server to the APC. Right?
Smart UPS
Yes. it is still functional, but I sent it back anyway for the replacement.
The power supply for the server is 210 Walts.
Now. We had an electrician to coming this morning and install three separate circuits in the room.
So I will plug one power supply to one circuit and another one in another circuit. Right? and I will have APC to test the power load from the server to the APC. Right?
>So I will plug one power supply to one circuit and another one in another circuit.
Now, I'm no electrician, but I've heard this is a bad idea. Something to do with the circuits beings on different phases.
Now, I'm no electrician, but I've heard this is a bad idea. Something to do with the circuits beings on different phases.
Check with the electrician if you are on a 3 phase system it may make a difference but I am not certain.
If all your running on the UPS is the one server then you are within the watt rating of it
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SC620&total_watts=50
but your running a very minimal UPS for it.
http://bugclub.org/beginners/miscellaneous/upscalc.html
If all your running on the UPS is the one server then you are within the watt rating of it
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SC620&total_watts=50
but your running a very minimal UPS for it.
http://bugclub.org/beginners/miscellaneous/upscalc.html
What kind of server is it? Does it have redundant power supplies? Was there any other equipment affected? What made you think that it was a surge through the circuit?
If nothing else was affected the likely cause is a failed power supply, which happens all the time, hence the need for redundant power supplies.
You should try to prevent your server from going down from a power problem rather than trying to prevent your power supply from blowing up.
If nothing else was affected the likely cause is a failed power supply, which happens all the time, hence the need for redundant power supplies.
You should try to prevent your server from going down from a power problem rather than trying to prevent your power supply from blowing up.
typical houses and small office building s have 2 phases, but big office buildings and buildings that require 3 phase wiring for equipment will have 3 phase power,
i recommend a heavy duty surge protector your UPS only has a "Surge energy rating 412 Joules" not that high of one..
i recommend a heavy duty surge protector your UPS only has a "Surge energy rating 412 Joules" not that high of one..
>>So I will plug one power supply to one circuit and another one in another circuit.
>Now, I'm no electrician, but I've heard this is a bad idea. Something to do with the circuits beings on different phases.
Why is this a bad idea? With any PSU, it all goes to DC...so there is no phase.
I've always followed the recommendation to use separate circuits (and phases). If one phase goes out, you don't lose all of your equipment.
There are also PDUs that takes 3-phase for feeding racks. Multiple outlets with a mix of any of the three phases. It all goes to 12VDC inside the PSU before it hits the equipment, so phase shouldn't matter.
Computers are DC-powered. The only "danger" I see in having 2 different phases is that sticking a fork into it will add both phases to 208VAC. But, if you're regularly sticking a fork into your servers...you've got other problems brewing.
If there were a danger, I should have seen instructions to the contrary in any of the PDU and UPS documentation. Or even the server install docs. (Sometimes, I _will_ RTM.) I surely would have had issues with the electrical engineer and city inspectors.
Maybe someone has a citation or a link with more info?
>Now, I'm no electrician, but I've heard this is a bad idea. Something to do with the circuits beings on different phases.
Why is this a bad idea? With any PSU, it all goes to DC...so there is no phase.
I've always followed the recommendation to use separate circuits (and phases). If one phase goes out, you don't lose all of your equipment.
There are also PDUs that takes 3-phase for feeding racks. Multiple outlets with a mix of any of the three phases. It all goes to 12VDC inside the PSU before it hits the equipment, so phase shouldn't matter.
Computers are DC-powered. The only "danger" I see in having 2 different phases is that sticking a fork into it will add both phases to 208VAC. But, if you're regularly sticking a fork into your servers...you've got other problems brewing.
If there were a danger, I should have seen instructions to the contrary in any of the PDU and UPS documentation. Or even the server install docs. (Sometimes, I _will_ RTM.) I surely would have had issues with the electrical engineer and city inspectors.
Maybe someone has a citation or a link with more info?
We're just hoping that no one decides they can get more power by wiring the phases together...
You do get more power. 120 + 120 = 208.
Connected at 120 degrees out of phase so you can blow every breaker in the place. It will make an awful noise. One day when we were cleaning up, one of the guys swept a piece of bare wire across the primary contacts of a 75KVA transformer... That got everyone's attention.
>Connected at 120 degrees out of phase so you can blow every breaker in the place.
Shorting a transformer has nothing to do with making 240 from two legs of 120. Put a wire between two primary wires in household 120V and you'll get a big pop to...probably vaporize the wire. But, stick a couple of circuit breakers and a properly wired load, and you don't have that problem.
You can't jump 120V + 120V from the same phase to make 240VAC. You need two different phases and a common neutral.
I'm no electrician either, but maybe we're talking about something different? My 208 outlets are all pulled off 3-phase power from the building. So, every one of them is using 2 different legs.
Shorting a transformer has nothing to do with making 240 from two legs of 120. Put a wire between two primary wires in household 120V and you'll get a big pop to...probably vaporize the wire. But, stick a couple of circuit breakers and a properly wired load, and you don't have that problem.
You can't jump 120V + 120V from the same phase to make 240VAC. You need two different phases and a common neutral.
I'm no electrician either, but maybe we're talking about something different? My 208 outlets are all pulled off 3-phase power from the building. So, every one of them is using 2 different legs.
Yes, but my original comment was a 'joke' about someone wiring two phases together in an attempt to get more power. Guess it didn't come thru that way.
I see now. I didn't read it that way. Sorry.
ASKER
>>So I will plug one power supply to one circuit and another one in another circuit.
This actually was recommended by APC support team. They suggested to buy two UPSs for our new server ML350 G6. two UPSs that we purchased- model APC UPS 1500. I confirmed with them that APC UPS 1500 can handle the load of ML350 G6 which is about 610 Watts. And UPS 1500 can handle up to 865 Watts.
As for our old server ML 310 G4 , the root cause of the problem that caused power supply to burn down was .....PCB chip on the hard drive. PCB chips caused power supply to burn. We had to replace PCB chips on two hard drives. They actuially caused another power supply to burn. Thanks so much for all your responses. Indeed the surge was from the inside and not from the outside.
This actually was recommended by APC support team. They suggested to buy two UPSs for our new server ML350 G6. two UPSs that we purchased- model APC UPS 1500. I confirmed with them that APC UPS 1500 can handle the load of ML350 G6 which is about 610 Watts. And UPS 1500 can handle up to 865 Watts.
As for our old server ML 310 G4 , the root cause of the problem that caused power supply to burn down was .....PCB chip on the hard drive. PCB chips caused power supply to burn. We had to replace PCB chips on two hard drives. They actuially caused another power supply to burn. Thanks so much for all your responses. Indeed the surge was from the inside and not from the outside.
ASKER
Thanks so much