For guys switching to commercial 220v in the USA

[Odetas]

Hi guys, I have a question for you guys that are switching to commercial 220v that are based in the USA.  What did you guys have to do to enable 220v on standard computer PSUs?  Did you guys just change the plugs to the 220v on the wall and all is well?  Have any of you tried using power strips?  I was thinking of just changing the plug on the power strip and using standard 110/220v rated wall cable to a power strip.

[Unacceptable]

Your PSU may be auto switching or you may have little red switch by the main plug in on the exhaust side.
Your going to need a 220volt cable for your PSU too (identify what plug you have for your 220v outlet,there are several different ones),get one rated ABOVE the amperage (AWG table will help) that you'll be pulling to be safe,add at least 20% of PSU rating.

Check with the manufacturer BEFORE attempting anything to be sure how it is done  

If your not sure about your outlet,take a pic & post it here...we can help identify it 

[Odetas]

PSUs are autoswitching.  I'll post a pic tomorrow, it is one of the standard 220 plugs one can find at Home Depot.  I have single phase 208 in my warehouse available to me.  I'm wondering if you guys have simply plugged into commercial 220 with PSUs and not had issues.

[Unacceptable]

PSUs are autoswitching.  I'll post a pic tomorrow, it is one of the standard 220 plugs one can find at Home Depot.  I have single phase 208 in my warehouse available to me.  I'm wondering if you guys have simply plugged into commercial 220 with PSUs and not had issues.

As long as you don't over draw amps on your circuits,you should be fine 

[fusion0389]

PSUs are autoswitching.  I'll post a pic tomorrow, it is one of the standard 220 plugs one can find at Home Depot.  I have single phase 208 in my warehouse available to me.  I'm wondering if you guys have simply plugged into commercial 220 with PSUs and not had issues.

I ended up adding a subpanel dedicated for 220/240. with that being said Bitmain PSU's plug right up to it no problem, same with any other commercial grade server PSU. If you are using consumer grade PSU's some may have the little red switch, but all the ones that I have are plug and play. Nothing special is needed to run it on 240 given that the outlet, wiring, breakers, are properly setup.

[Odetas]

So I made the mistake of asking electricians on Reddit about this and got the end-of-the-world berating, even though I know my way around better than most.

Here's the plug, it is standard 208v, 2 x 120 hots, NEMA L6-30-R.  120v to neutral and 208v to the two hots.  My question really is if the standard computer PSU's are fine taking two hots, or if in 220v countries they feed 1 x 220v hot from the wall.  I don't want the PSU to fry itself because it is trying to switch 1 hot not to neutral but to the other prong.  Anyways, for you guys that have gone commercial, let me know if all you did was change over the plug.  Thanks.

https://i.imgur.com/PNpAQFj.jpg

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Yes the PSU's are perfectly happy having 2 hot lines feeding them.  For these the Neutral designation of one line input is simply for convention and has nothing to do with any internal connections/references to the metal cases/ground.

Also correct that in 220v countries it is 1 220v hot and 1 Neutral as the return and as in North America the Neutral is bonded to earth ground at the main panel  - same as in North America with 110V, 1 hot and 1 Neutral just higher voltage.

[QuintLeo]

2 hots on a 220 circuit is not an issue for a computer power supply.

 The ONLY reason for the existence of a "neutral" lead on a 110 circuit is that it acts as a "center tap" of the 220 feed to split the voltage down to 110.


 MOST recent computer power supplies will handle any voltage from 100 to about 240 volts with no changes needed - some older ones need you to move a "switch" on the input, check FIRST before you plug the supply in.


 There should be a "input voltage" listing right at the input socket for the power supply.

[Odetas]

Thanks guys, this is very helpful. Some people on forums are real "end of the world" types and injected some doubt into me. Even though I know how to use a meter and actually read specs on cables.

[Unacceptable]

Thanks guys, this is very helpful. Some people on forums are real "end of the world" types and injected some doubt into me. Even though I know how to use a meter and actually read specs on cables.

It is GOOD to have doubt...until you are sure of what your doing 

[Odetas]

It is GOOD to have doubt...until you are sure of what your doing 

I agree, it is good to always question.

Since the max amps of any PSU goes down with the voltage at the same watts, are you guys seeing a reduction in power consumption?  All the PSU charts show is higher efficiency above say 80% of max output.

[QuintLeo]

Running a power supply on 220 instead of 110 has ZERO effect on the output circuitry.
It DOES save a tiny amount of power - commonly 1-2% - due to reduced I2R losses in the input circuitry.

[philipma1957]

Running a power supply on 220 instead of 110 has ZERO effect on the output circuitry.
It DOES save a tiny amount of power - commonly 1-2% - due to reduced I2R losses in the input circuitry.

yeah  sometime  under 1% or as high as 3%

but 1-2 is the norm

@ op remember a 208-240 volt circuit   has far more power then a 120 volt so please be careful.

[Odetas]

Here's the spec for the PSU.  With 220 you can at least use all 1200W instead of being limited to 900W, and at lower amperage too.  So at least with the 208 you can push a PSU to it's limit without it being too inefficient.

https://i.imgur.com/duHMRZc.jpg

[NiHaoMike]

If you only need to run 3kW or less, consider a Quick220 that converts two 120V circuits of opposite phase into a single 240V circuit.