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Getting Power to a Rack Enclosure?
JazzyJ asks: "I need some ideas on some fire/electrical code compliant ways to get power into some bare bones rack mount enclosures I have. The racks are essentially in the center of a room with 3 ft around all sides. There's a 4 outlet box on each wall. Other than getting building maintenance to drop me a circuit along the floor or out of the ceiling, what options for getting power into these monsters do I have? Extension cords are right out, that is against fire/electrical code. Help!?"
Greater Elbonia has virtually no safety laws, being mostly mud flats with little natural resources and almost no government. Therefor, if extension cords are out (which surprises me, but perhaps they short out in the mud) and you can't get drops properly placed by building maintenance (and I can imagine how hard that is in Greater Elbonia), I would suggest beaming microwaves from the wall to the rack.
This has several advantages: *
* Advantages may be outweighed by frying every circuit in your computers.
Sig under construction since 1998.
- Pick up local yellow pages.
- Look up number for an electrician.
- Call the number, and ask whoever answers the same question.
Dear Slashdot Readers,
Will you please do my job for me, as I am too fat/lazy to pick up the phone and call an electrician. Besides, my special dialing wand hasn't arrived yet and, technically, I shouldn't be using the phone at all for medical reasons. Tell you what! To make it extra fun, I won't tell you where I am or any local laws that might apply to my situation. Let the endless speculation begin!
Oh, and please hurry! I'm trying to leave early today and my boss wants an answer first thing in the morning.
Well, if it's anything like the university I went to, it's easy!
1) Put in a request to the building&grounds people that you need a new junction box placed within easy access of the racks.
2) They promise you a quick response.
3) After six weeks, realize you need power _now_ and run a few power strips through the floor panels.
4) Union rep appears 1 hour later, removes strips , fines your department for using non-union labor.
5) Wait 2 more months, still no response from union electrician. Run an extension cord from your office, across the hall, into the room, thus not violating Union reqs (no floor panels touched!)
6) Fire marshall appears, fines department for fire hazard.
7) Dean of department calls you in, explains they are firing you due to the trouble you've caused in fines and Union difficulties. Voila! Problem solved, you no longer need to worry about power to the racks!
(And oddly enough, I support unions in general!)
A.
Easy to get a chessy metal pole for your ceiling drop. We use several in our office (open floor plan, no desks near a wall) that have both power and ethernet jacks. Takes all of about 20 minutes to install, plus time to run cabling to the desired location. Ours are even UL listed.
HUBBELL
Multi-oulet assembly
HBLPP10A
Issue No: 3084
Found here.
Well, Since you've ruled out running cables through the three known spatial dimensions, I suggest you try using a wormhole. Simply generate a wormhole (in the usual way), and, using a pair of exotic matter gloves, place one end of the wormhole inside the rack. Then place the other end near an outlet; this outlet can be near the wall, or some outer region of the universe... basically, wherever you can get the cheapest electricity. Next, simply plug in the cord, and feed it into the hole. I would advise that you perform this step from outside the cosmos, especially if the wormhole hasn't been thoroughly tested to comply with local building codes. If the universe as we know it hasn't been completely obliterated at this point, then you're done!
Note: You may also want to run your ethernet cables through there as well, to function as a very convenient, low-cost hyper-dimensional gigabit wireless network.