Review on StarTech.com 8 Outlet Horizontal 1U Rack Mount PDU Power Strip for Network Server Racks - Surge Protection - 120V/15A - with 6 Ft Power Cord (RKPW081915), Black: Efficient Power Distribution Solution for Network Server Racks by Mark Saric

I had a serious electrical problem using this StarTech PDU. The heart of the problem is that 14 of the 16 outlets in the block suddenly lost 120V power. Here's a description of the situation that probably describes a lot more than you want to know: I bought this PDU to distribute 120V power to multiple cells that mostly have low to medium power consumption. The lower wattage items were just a couple of phone chargers (regular phones, not even higher amperage smartphones), a couple of 18650 lithium battery chargers, and a couple of Ni-MH AAA/AA chargers. These are all small, low current battery chargers that use the usual and familiar wall outlet adapter to convert to low current DC for any device. I also had an LED connected to this Startech and the power consumption varies but does not exceed 170W. I also had a number of studio monitor speakers connected to this unit as well as some other audio equipment such as a line mixer and a digital to analogue audio -Interface. Most of the devices I have connected to this StarTech PDU are UL certified. Listed power switches as wall outlets connected in-line with 6" extension cords coming out of the StarTech unit, allowing connected devices to be turned off when not in use and room for any power adapters needed for some items. plug in. Additionally, the ability to turn off individually also helps to get rid of that personally annoying room glow at night due to all the backlighting and LED lights that come with so many devices these days. It also helps reduce power consumption with inefficient wall adapters when devices such as B. chargers, are not used. I mean, the total current draw of the devices I plugged into this StarTech PDU was far from its current rating, and that's on top of that most of the connected devices weren't even turned on at the time. Название этого продукта указывает на 15 ампер, что подразумевает мощность 1800 Вт, и, что интересно, также говорится, что только сертифицировано листингом UL до 12 А на основе названия этого продукта, что по-прежнему подразумевает мощность 1440 Вт, что по-прежнему Хорошо to me. After owning this StarTech unit for about 2 months and running the chargers intermittently and turning on the LED backlight regularly, I finally got a large flat panel display for the rest of my audio gear. I had a new monitor (commercial display/Samsung TV) hooked up to a StarTech unit and was trying to test the TV for the first time to understand its capabilities. I then connected the laptop to the TV with an HDMI cable to test the TV's functionality as an external display. Everything was fine and after a short test period I had to connect my Lenovo laptop with the supplied charger because the battery was dead. I plugged in my laptop charger adapter and plugged the cord into my laptop and then flipped the switch to actually turn the charger on and the moment I flipped the switch my connected devices went off. At first I thought maybe something was wrong with the ground loop or the wrong hot plug through the laptop charging system and through the HDMI cable to the big screen and then back to the Startech PDU. I pulled out the multimeter and found that I now only have voltage at 2 of the 16 outputs. I tried toggling the StarTech PDU's power button on and off to see if anything resets itself, but the situation remained the same. I've checked my TV, laptop and a few other devices and everything is working fine and I haven't seen any burned connection points on my devices and cables yet, but I still haven't checked out some of the expensive devices that are left. Well that was the end of my gear for a few weeks until today I had time to take a closer look at what might have happened. There was a break in continuity, and from the way it was put together internally you could tell it was almost certainly a major failure in powering the outlets. 14 of the 16 sockets are essentially daisy-chained, and I don't see anything wrong with that. The other two outlets I had had continuity and normal 120V power after the PDU failed. They were connected to the 120V power supply via the unit's internal circuit board, which was installed directly behind that pair of sockets, so they were not connected by a festoon. - as well as other sockets. During the continuity test and inspection process, I could see that one of the hot wire connections going into the drilled chain had insulation that looked slightly melted. He soldered too much himself, he didn't look burnt from a short circuit, but the insulation simply melted due to improper soldering during assembly. I removed the screw holding this pair of sockets to get a better view of the internal circuit board mounted on their backside. As I got better at the board, I gave that wire with the melted insulation a very light tug and it popped right out of the board. Well, that was the point where the chain of outlets lost its continuity. . Now looking at the loose wire that led to the PCB, the through hole soldering looked like some of the insulation got into the solder during assembly and the melted plastic getting caught in the melted solder made the connection weak. Perhaps pressing the switch on the laptop charger just shook the device enough to eventually cause the solder joint to break and lose continuity. If a product just doesn't work and doesn't work fully, I don't think it deserves a good rating. To be fair, people are more likely to leave a negative review because of a bug than not to leave a review if everything works as expected. The reason I'm giving at least two stars here is that overall I don't see anything wrong with the design of the device. I like the arrangement of the sockets on the block and the multitude of sockets on it, it corresponded to the situation when I was looking for a power distributor. Looking at the circuit board, I doubt that this device really offers sophisticated protection for connected devices in terms of overcurrent detection. It may have some surge protection capability, but I'm not familiar enough with some of those aspects to determine the purpose served by multiple components mounted on a PCB. I think the Power Distribution Unit name is fair and appropriate as long as the unit can at least do it flawlessly, but in this case it did. My faith in this block has been shaken. I had about $6,000 worth of equipment connected. If the fault I was experiencing was a neutral fault and not a hot wire as in this case, and then I plug other devices into a completely different outlet, chances are all very expensive devices are getting 240v and fry what can and does happen in buildings and is a big problem. The likelihood of this happening is because the items are powered from different branches in the house. Hopefully StarTech can respond positively to this and I can update my review based on their response.