A Guide to Power Distribution Units (PDUs)

Horizontal or vertical form factors

• PDUs can have either a horizontal design or a vertical design.
• Horizontal PDUs mount in a rack, occupying 1U or 2U (rack units) of space. Mounting ears are reversible for front- or rear-facing rack-mount installation.
• Vertical PDUs mount on the back or sides of the rack's posts, occupying 0U of space. This design allows for up to 48 outlets on a single PDU.
• Tripp Lite's vertical PDUs enable simple toolless mounting into compatible racks for hassle-free installation.

Digital load metering

• A front-panel digital load meter on Local Metered PDU models displays total PDU output current in amps for local monitoring of connected loads.
• If the outlets are grouped in different load banks, each load bank has a dedicated meter.
• Monitoring total PDU output helps prevent PDU and supply circuit overloads that can cause costly downtime.

Triple load meters

Remote monitoring

• Select PDUs feature a built-in LX Platform network management card that provides enhanced remote management capabilities.
• The Java-free HTML5-based LX Platform network interface and software included with Tripp Lite's Monitored PDUs can send automated email notifications that help IT managers prevent accidental overloads, power loss and downtime from virtually anywhere.
• The network interface can be used to monitor information received from standard sensors about a wide variety of functions. For example, you can monitor door-closure detectors, smoke alarms, temperature/humidity sensors and other devices, receiving alerts and logging operational data automatically.

Individual outlet control

• Switched PDUs provide advanced network control and remote power monitoring, including the ability to turn on, turn off, reboot or lock out power to individual outlets.
• Individual outlet control is a valuable feature that reduces the frequency of on-site visits, savings expenses and reducing downtime, thus lowering the PDU's total cost of ownership. Switched PDUs are ideal for branch offices and retail stores with no on-site IT staff.
• A Switched PDU is valuable for network applications that require automated load shedding or defined power-on sequences to avoid inrush overloads.
• Outlet LEDs help local IT managers determine at a glance which outlets are live at that moment.

Power Measurement Features

• Shared data centers, such as colocation facilities, require accurate accounting of a client's total electricity consumption. A PDU that measures real-time load/current data with billing-grade accuracy of +/- 1% ensures energy costs are invoiced correctly.
• Cryptocurrency miners and others creating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) also require accurate measurement of power consumption to control power costs and maintain accurate accounting of profitability.

Circuit breakers

• Most PDUs include one or more circuit breakers to protect against dangerous overloads and short circuits.

Auto transfer switching

• PDUs with auto transfer switching provide redundant power to devices that do not have redundant power supplies, either by necessity or as a strategy to reduce hardware, power and cooling costs.
• Separate primary and secondary input cords connect to two different compatible power sources. If the primary source becomes unstable or fails, the ATS switches over to the secondary power source until the primary input is restored and stable.

Hot-swap capability

• Keeping mission-critical data center equipment operating at its optimal level requires periodic maintenance. Hot-swappable PDUs work in conjunction with your UPS system to keep everything running 24/7/365.
• These PDUs have a manual transfer switch that enables you to manually control the PDU's input power source for maintenance or equipment replacement with no interruption of performance.
• For further reading on hot-swappable PDUs, refer to our hot-swap technology page.

Automatic device reboot capability

• Tripp Lite PDUs with an LX network interface card include Auto-Probe, a feature that automatically detects and fixes network connectivity problems, helping you avoid the time and costs of a site visit for simple reboots.
• With Auto-Probe, a PDU can, for example, be configured to ping a router at regular intervals. If the router fails to respond, the PDU will automatically power cycle the router to restore connectivity.