Re: CPF181A Message

Chris, Scott, Al,

  The AS/400 is a SINGLE phase machine but is 220V.  It uses two legs of
110V each to get 220V but they are in phase.  There is such a thing as
220V three phase but it is rare, most three phase is 440V and up. If you
actually DO use two legs of a three phase circuit to get your 220V the
two legs will be out of phase by 120 degrees.  The net result is the RMS
(root mean square) voltage is not 220V but rather about 195 (or so). 
The AS/400 doesn't much care but many UPSs connected to this type of
circuit will not start and will actually issue an 'input phase rotation
error' (The Matrix 5000 is NOT one of them. In fact their engineers
didn't seem concerned at all about using 'two phase' input power to
their units)

  When you lose one of three phases, this is referred to as 'single
phasing' and any three phase equipment with one phase out runs like a
'73 Duster slant six with two plug wires missing, which is to say BADLY!
If you've heard this sound, you'll remember it!

  Technically a brown out is when all phases are reduced by a like
amount. Ohms Law (I=E/R) assures us that less power will be used in this
case. This is why power companies do this when they don't have enough to
go around.  Of course some equipment (such as AS/400's) will just
increase their current draw to compensate for the reduced voltage and
continue to draw the same amount of power anyway. If one phase is
dropped or one leg is dropped, that is a partial black out.

  The reason you got messages on the 720 even though there is no cable
is because it has an internal UPS good for 30 seconds. It reported (Via
the CPF181A message) that the Matrix unit 'went away' for 11 seconds and
then came back (the CIA097A message).  THe model 300 has no internal UPS
and would have just shut down (hard) had the UPS actually shut down.

  Now you may ask if the two AS/400s are on the same UPS why did the 720
report a power failure while the 300 did not go down.  Conflicting data
to be sure.  It is my experience (and we are currently investigating
this problem with on an S20 system) that the internal UPS on the S20/720
systems is 'too touchy'.  We have seen the silly things kick in and out
up to 20 times a day even when there were no other observed power
problems and the system was in fact on a UPS.

  Since you experienced this problem when there were in fact other power
difficulties I would not be too concerned. If this occurs during normal
power conditions then I would get IBM to check out the AS/400 and APC to
check out the UPS.

  The Matrix 5000 can be tapped for a 208 or 240 input, make sure that
correctly matches your input voltage.  Both the 300 and the 720 will
happily run on anything from about 190 to about 250 volts so 208 or 240
are both just fine.  The Output of the UPS also can be set by tap and it
SHOULD match the input voltage or switching to bypass gets a bit noisy
with a 32V difference!

  Chris is correct in having you check the load on the two legs of the
UPS. The AS/400s are naturally balanced because they are across both
legs.  Most servers are 110V so you definately want to check the load on
each leg.  I believe you can get that information from the front panel
of the Matrix unit or from the Serial port with a PC.

  HTH - Larry

Chris Bipes wrote:
> 
> Brown outs are typically one of three phases going out.  The 720 uses 2 of
> the three phases to generate 220 volts, (2x110v).  The UPS supplying the 620
> must also be 220 volts.  Some of the brown outs probably did not hit the
> other  UPS, one obviously did hit at least once.  If the batteries on the
> UPS the 720 is attached to could not supply enough power for the 220
> circuit, the 720 would register the power failure.  With the leg that
> supplies power to the 110 circuit remain up which kept the others alive.

-- 
Larry Bolhuis         |  
Arbor Solutions, Inc  |  IBM AS/400e - Get There First!
(616) 451-2500        |  
(616) 451-2571 -fax   |  It's 10PM.  Has your NT Server had it's
lbolhuis@arbsol.com   |  theraputic re-boot yet today?
+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---