[ale] Considerations Regarding Dual Power Supplies

hbbs at comcast.net hbbs at comcast.net
Mon Oct 6 15:33:14 EDT 2008


In audio-land, you have to be mindful of not creating ground loops, i.e, a closed circuit of what should be ground in which EMI (especially 60Hz hum and harmonics) can be induced.  

Knowing that, does it cause problems to run power cables from a machine with two power supplies to two different PDUs in a server rack?  Or, is it preferable to connect the two power cables to as close to the same point as possible (i.e., two electrically adjacent outlets in the same PDU)?  Aren't the ground pins in each of the two power supplies going to be connected together inside the machine?  If so, it seems as though having the two grounds form a big loop might bring a lot of hash into the machine through the ground lines.

- Jeff


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