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We have two old NetApp FAS3050 filers at our colo. We also have an upcoming maintenance window that will take our circuits offline for an extended period of time. Our circuits are pretty much maxed out, so I was performing tests to confirm all would be fine when taking a redundant circuit offline.

I found out after removing power cables from the secondary power supply that the filer goes a little crazy, the fans spin audibly a lot faster, and there is an amp usage increase (e.g. ~18A total in redundant mode and ~20A total in non-redundant mode). I was expecting power savings by switching off one of the supplies.

Is there any way to disable this craziness or do I need to simply contend with this issue another way?

Matt Beckman
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  • Power supplies have an efficiency curve - at low and high outputs they are less efficient while the middle range they are more efficient. Sounds like a single power supply is near the top end while using two has them both in the middle range. – Brian Jun 05 '14 at 00:59
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    Not too much a surprise - NetApps dial back the power use on their fans to keep sustained energy load lower, but if they lose a PSU then they may lose some airflow as a result. So they crank up the rest of the fans, because a bit more energy use is preferable to a toasted motherboard or a system down because of overheat. – Sobrique Jun 06 '14 at 08:40

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