Okay, our datacenter doesn't charge us based on our "useage" just on how many Amps we have delivered to our rack. I'm planning on putting in a new rack this upcoming year for some server expansion, based on This article. Each server has a crapload of drives, and in turn, uses a crapload of power.
This rack will include.
1 Cisco Router.
1 Fiber Switch
1 1U Storage Controller, standard Dell 850 server.
11 3U Storage Servers, each with dual 750-watt power supplies.
So... I'm trying to calculate how many amps i should theoretically need. I dont have an example server yet to see just how much a 3U - 45-drive server pulls. So i figure it needs two power supplies, so lets go with 1000 watts of pull. Plenty for the hard drives, plenty for the onboard stuff. 11 x 1000 watts is obviously 11000 watts of power.
A=W/V. W= 11000. V= 120v. A= 91.
This is where my brain kinda tripped out. 91 amps of power is sheer insanity. (the most i've had piped to a rack atm is 40, and its only sitting at 60% capacity.
And thats with only 1000w used per server -- if the PSU is pulling full current at 1500watts for the system, thats something to the tune of 140amps.
.... This sound right or i'm I just crazy? Surely i did something wrong, 140amps of power is insanity.
****Edit: Box is actually 4U, so numbers are different then displayed here, but not by much.