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  #1  
Old 09-16-2008, 06:16 PM
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Keith Keith is offline
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Default Customized power strip mounting

All,
Good Afternoon. I have an install where I have APC Power strips mounted in racks that they were not designed for. I have a need to mount these to where I can gain access to the screws on the back rail for racking and de-racking servers.

Has anyone had to customize the mounting brackets on the APC strips; or any other brand of strips? This question only applies to the vertical power strips.
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  #2  
Old 09-19-2008, 03:22 PM
tom tom is offline
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yes, I have worked with few stips before. Are you having problem putting together? What is the exact issue?
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Old 10-24-2008, 08:04 PM
cernst cernst is offline
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what racks are you using?

if you are using a Rittal based rack (HP/Dell), I typically mount my Geist, APC, ServerTech power strips using 4-5 black 11" zip ties to the corner of the frame. the frame has square and round holes that you can slide the zip-tie through. you don't have to get them super tight if you use at least 4 ties. it keeps them out of the way of the cable management and heatflow as well.
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Old 10-30-2008, 04:56 PM
attagirl attagirl is offline
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Agree with cernst on this one. I think that mounting with zip ties is the easiest way to still be able to gain access as well as helps to maintain air flow.
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Old 10-31-2008, 06:19 PM
Neoeclectic Neoeclectic is offline
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We've been using vertical Geist power strips with easy to read LED. They didn't originally mount correctly into the Great Lakes racks we use. So we had to fashion up some hardware similar to what was available and then showed it to Great Lakes to have them start manufacturing something that would work.

Basically, it was something along the lines of a mini "L" bracket that fasted to the ends, but the catch was the bracket had to be fixed to the frame before installing the power strip. Later Great Lakes produced something more reasonable which was a strip as long as the power strips are long and it mounted pretty much in the same fashion.

I'm vehemently opposed to using zip ties to mounting power strips. I understand that sometimes it's the easiest way of doing it, but I feel that it looks so unprofessional and with a little more time and ingenuity you can make something that works. Especially, since my data center is always being visited by high powered executives that's the last thing I want them to see in my data center; some kind of jury rig.
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Old 11-06-2008, 04:03 PM
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I totally agree with not using zip ties. That statement contradicts everything I have ever said about zip ties of course. I can find a million uses for zip ties (such as holding the belly pan on the front of my car up and secured to the front bumper).

Also, when you mount the strip to the edge of the cabinet, you will likely block access to the screws on the rails; at least that is how it is with my racks.

I am likely going to create a custom bracket that will move the strips further towards the center of the cabinet. Either way it is done, access to the back of the servers is jeaprodized since the power strips consume so much room on either side of the cabinet.
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Old 11-06-2008, 04:28 PM
Neoeclectic Neoeclectic is offline
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I actually do like the verticals but they present a couple of unique challenges. The outlets don't typically line up to the power supply of the servers. So if we're mounting a 1-U starting at U-3, of the cabinet, the closest plug on the veritcal will be about 10 inches up and out from where the server is actually mounted.

The other issue I have is that they take up valuable cable management space in the rear of the cabinet, and that I'm not able to install lacing bars because of that space being used. The problem there is that a lot of the server rail kits we get will not collapse far enough to be able to create that space. The Dells are most notorious for this such as the 25-2900 series rail kits we've been getting. I run a highly mixed density data center with just about every conceivable device type, manufacturer, and model. So trying to establish a congruency with regards to the power strips and cable management is tough.

I have used horizontals but I think they're just terrible when mounted either at the bottom or tops of cabinets. You end up with this huge mass of power cables that's almost impossible to manage. We've also side mounted horizontals that worked out better. We would mount them between the vertical posts along the sides of the cabinets, but then access became a real headache and there was still some problems with power cable management.

The only thing I can think of here is to start getting 3rd party racking kits that will collapse as deeply as I need and can be uniformally configured.
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Old 11-06-2008, 07:34 PM
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KenB KenB is offline
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If your aisles are wide enough, you might consider deeper racks. We've realized a huge improvement in cable management space by going to 48" (1200 mm) deep racks.

Ken
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Old 11-06-2008, 08:05 PM
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We are limited because this is in a colo and they provide the cabinets. If I had a choice, I would totally be rocking out the APC Cabinets with the mounts already built in.

My wish list for that customer is a mile long!
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