We purchased a PylePro PCO885 just to see what was inside. This is a 2U rackmount PDU with 18 outlets and two USB power ports. We were replacing a power strip, and decided to just rackmount it, and so this looked interesting. Since we do not do power supply reviews, this is more of just showing you what is inside this rackmount PDU.
If you just want to purchase one of these, then here is an Amazon Affiliate Link.
PylePro PCO885 2U PDU External Hardware Overview
Here is the front of the PDU. Something worth noting is that while this is a 2U PDU, it is one that is also a bit strange. The reason for that is it comes with feet installed, but the rackmount ears are fixed in place.
On the front, we have four outlets.
Then the model number.
Then we have a voltage display and two USB Type-A ports. It would have been nice if these were USB-C PD ports as well.
On the right, we get a big power switch.
On the rear, we have most of the outlets.
We also get a breaker and a reset/ test assembly on the back of the PDU.
Then there are 14 rear outlets making for 18 total.
Next, let us get inside the unit.
PylePro PCO885 2U PDU Internal Hardware Overview
Despite having a huge 10AWG AC input cable, the internal wiring is much more modest. For these, we just show the internal construction since that is often not shown on online listings.
First, here is the USB and voltage display.
Here is behind the power button.
Here are the four outlets on the front.
Here are is the backing for the 14 outlets on the rear.
Here is the breaker.
Here is a grounding point.
This is supposed to be a power conditioner and surge protector PDU but this looks very different from many that we have seen.
Here is the yellow board that feeds to the volt meter at the front.
That is what we saw.
Final Words
Is this an ultra-fancy PDU, absolutely not. On the other hand, if you just need 18 outlets, this is often on sale for $89 or less, making it a relatively inexpensive way to get a 2U rackmount PDU with many outlets. It lacks remote monitoring, remote power cycling, and other features of higher-end units. It also lacks many of the features we see in higher-end PDUs that we would typically use on IT gear. Since we have it, it is likley going to go into powering some LED lighting in the studio, but we will not be purchasing more of these units. Still, it is a fairly reasonable price.
Where to Buy
If you just want to purchase one of these, then here is an Amazon Affiliate Link.
This unit has the added benefit of melting its insides when you put significant load on the 4 outlets at the front of the unit. Those outlets should have been connected to the “power conditioner” board, and not as an extension off the back outlet PCB imo
The power conditioning in this is pointless, it is just a basic standard common mode choke, but quite chunky wire turns in order to deal with a potentially high power load, making it less effective in removing noise on the incoming supply. Also I guarantee that every bit of kit plugged in will have its own common mode choke anyway in its power supply. Also I see no surge protection as there are no fast-acting MOVs visible, looks like spaces for them maybe, but they’ve been left out.
Nothing about this PDU makes sense. First, the plug on the end of the wire is a NEMA 5-15 which is for a 15A load maximum. That would limit this PDU to 1800W, well below the 3000W advertised. Because of that the 25A breaker on this would never trip because you’d always trip your outlet breaker first. If for some reason you illegally put a compatible outlet on a 25 or 30A supply breaker you could eventually burn up the outlet and maybe cause an electrical fire.
I also don’t trust the traces on any of the PCBs to be of an adequate size, or the soldering to be of an adequate quality, to support even 15A let alone 25A if a proper plug was put on the power cord. I’d much rather see wires and crimp connectors for the rear outlets like is done for the front outlets. However, if you really wanted 3000W the wires for each outlet should either run independently to the breaker or it would need to be 10 AWG wire throughout the device to carry the full load.
Basically the power cord plug on this device makes the advertised 3000W impossible but that’s probably a good thing because it’s reducing the risk of melting something or starting a fire.
Looks like heap of junk…the “surge protection board” has no MOVs or GDTs as far as I can see…
If this is actually advertised as surge protection, that is straight up scam.
Pyle makes these and other questionable rack mount audio stuff for the low end houseparty DJ industry, and it’s expected to survive because it would be powering similarly fantastic “3000 watt amps” and such, at low duty cycle. It is certainly not intended for constant use in a server rack, and I’d trust a decent Tripp-Lite and some 3D-printed rack mounts way before I’d spend money on this thing.
Why would you review a PDU without actually doing power testing on it? Come on servethehome.
A few violations in the unit.
1) NEMA 5-15 input plug is only rated for 1800w peak, 1500w sustained. Given the 3kw “rated” load, this should be an L5-30.
2) Wire gauge, looks like typical 12awg. 10awg minimum to support the rated load.
3) 25A double-pull breaker makes no sense unless this was split phase.
The easy fix is for them to remark it as a 1500w max and fix the breaker situation.
Picture captioned “Pyle Pro 20 Outlet 3000W 2 RU Rackmount Power Conditioner Max Loading”:
“No user servicable parts insid”
I’m all about DIY and low-cost, but if it doesn’t have a UL mark (or similar) on the unit/ circuit breaker, I’m not putting it in my house/ work. The insurance company will deny my electrical fire claim.
Yeah this isn’t capable of 3000W. That’s a sin-wave choke, no capacitance for conditioning. False marketing – but it’s a Pyle…they’ve done cheap audio gear and started with car amps and cheap home amplifiers, that were highly overrated/exaggerated wattages.
It might marginally make a cleaner filter on noise from the line, but it won’t smooth any bumps or loading changes. It’s a PDU – ok, and has a lot of ports, ok, and the price is correct for that – but it’s a 15amp – 1800w unit…not even 20amp. Staked-on wiring says a lot here too, stakes heat more under load than soldiered. I’m just happy to see it’s unlikely to catch fire the way it was built, but that choke will fail at some point, and that’s the last thing I want in my rack, a failed choke in the middle of a PDU with a big 3000w marketing bs and a 15amp plug. If it were direct connected to the plugs internally, it would be less likely to fail.
I get the 1U cyberpower 20amp pdu’s that have front and back power loading. Drop those into an Eaton or APC UPS…if you need power conditioning better than a UPS, you have something else wrong with the setup. Because the Eaton/Triplite and APC units are crazy expensive for what they are – a breaker surge protector with a switch and a cover shouldn’t cost me $200 USD – the cyberpower is $40. All I want is a cover over the power switch and a breaker reset button, conditioning is not the job of the pdu anyway.
It’s a fire waiting to happen.