Why choose 120 volts?

Tue May 26 19:43:20 UTC 2009

> I have a pure curiosity question for the NANOG crowd here. If you run
> your facility/datacenter/cage/rack on 120 volts, why?

Because we are stupid.

> I've been running my facility at 208 for years because I can get away
> with lower amperage circuits. I'm curious about the reasons for using
> high-amp 120 volt circuits to drive racks of equipment instead of
> low-amp 208 or 240 volt circuits.

That makes you smarter than the average guy.

But, if we were really smart, we'd run at least 277, or maybe 347. Countless amounts of money would be saved on losses (transformation), copper (smaller wire), and many other areas. Most of the stuff we all run is already insulated for these voltage levels.

Even better would be all two pole 2 pole 480's or 2 pole 600's, then we wouldn't need neutrals.