5 ms·

Because when the power does cut, how long is it going to take to get those generators up and running? It's not like the whole place can run on a battery backup

• djcapelis 11y ago
  Seconds or less. This is a solved problem. Backup uninterrupted power is not typically done by keeping generators online 24/7.
• rgbrenner 11y ago
  No.. the whole place DOES run on battery backup while the generators start. A large data center will have multiple rows of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_center#/media/File:Datacenter_Backup_Batteries.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_center#/media/File:Datace...
  • spacecowboy_lon 11y ago
    Done right the DC is always running off battery the backup gensets are there to replace the mains power.
• 15thandwhatever 11y ago
  Generator take anywhere from 7-15 minutes to spool up and produce power. So every (serious) datacenter has rows and rows of batteries to cover the lag time between power loss and generator start-of-service.
  • wmoser 11y ago
    Not if you get good generators and the systems on standby. On an oil rig our engines always have their lube oil prelube running and heaters on. We can go from blackout to online in under a minute. Like most other things it's an engineering problem and how much money you're willing to spend to solve the problem.