Power Distribution Unit

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 Sirius Sounds wrote:

 kevinmcdonough wrote:

However usually a 64a three phase is a good one. You can use adapter cables to put either single phase into it, or (assuming you have the protection breakers set up properly at source) put in a 32 single or three if that's what you're supplied with. 

Is this OK to do? What do I need to plug a single phase or 32 amp 3 phase into a 63 amp 3 phase distro? 

You can go from small source to big load perfectly safely, all you need is the appropriate adapter cable.

To go from big source to small load you will need an adapter that has the appropriate current limiting device (and potentially residual current protection) such as a fuse, an MCB, an RCBO, etc..

Going from 3-phase source to single-phase is straight forward, you just use whichever of the phases is appropriate to provide the Live for the single phase (it is quite common to see 3x single phases breaking out from a 3-phase so that you have access to all three phases).

Going from single-phase source to 3-phase is a bit trickier as it has potential dangers and requires operator skill and understanding of what the system is doing. Depending on the application there are multiple way you might wire up such an adapter and they should be clearly labelled to identify which kind of adapter they are. Most applications for amp rack PDUs, where the equipment is all single phase equipment spread across the phases within the PDU, the adapter would be wired to link the Live from the source to all three phases of the PDU.