Inside the Power Strip
The two rack ear end caps are held in place by two screws. Then the components like the switch and outlets are on a track along the metal enclosure.
There is also a grounding point inside.
Here is the back of the outlets. Each of the four outlets seems to be an individual outlet that are joined at the rear along three bars. Then this entire assembly is mounted on the enclosure’s track.
Here is a look at the switch and plug wiring.
Next, let us install this into a rack.
Installation
Our units all came with M6 cage nuts. A nice touch since sometimes rackmount equipment does not come with this hardware.
Here is one mounted in a generic 10″ 6U rack.
A small, but useful feature is that the rack ears have large grooves. We have found that some 10″ racks vary in their actual widths. That variance can be from design and manufacturing on particular units. We even found a case where the front and rear of a popular rack were not the same widths.
Having the large channels for mounting means that the PDU can be installed easily. Here is a DeskPi with this installed.
You can see that the shelf atop the power strip has a different rack ear width, which is why those large channels help with variability.
Flipping the Rack Ears
Some folks strongly dislike the look of the power strip with the rack ears on the outlet side, and thus flipping the rack ears is a “thing.”
Two screws at either end allow one to remove and replace the rack ears to the rear side away from the outlets.
Final Words
If you were to read some of the reviews on Amazon, there are people who were sent the this rack PDU and are using it to cook with. To be clear, the only place we would think of using this four outlet power strip is in a 10″ rack. For other applications, there are other less expensive options with safety and regulatory markings.
Still, this power strip has become popular because it is one of the easiest to get. We have several of these, and they work, but we really wish there was a better option at a similar price out there.
Again, if you want to find current pricing, we purchased ours on Amazon (Affiliate Link.)
The sticker says “Overload” but I see a busbar inline with a switch wired straight to mains. There doesn’t seem to be any overcurrent or overvolt protection.
@Brad You should notice on the switch that there is an Off and a Reset position. Typically, this means there is some sort of current limit in the switch. I am not stating that this switch has the appropriate ratings for this application, just that this function may be contained in the switch.