What is a 3U rack mount battery, and how many fit in a cabinet?

SOLiCORE is a 3U, 19-inch rack-mount module measuring 517 mm long × 442 mm wide × 133.5 mm high. “3U” means three rack units, a rack unit is 44.45 mm, the standard vertical increment of a 19-inch rack.

Three things to check before ordering for an existing cabinet:

Depth. 517 mm is deep for a comms cabinet. Many telecommunications cabinets are shallower than a data centre rack. Measure the usable internal depth including the door and any cable management, not the nominal cabinet depth.

Weight and floor loading. A lithium module of this class is far lighter than an equivalent lead-acid bank, which is one of the strongest retrofit arguments, but a full bank is still a significant floor load, and rack rails have their own rating. Confirm the module weight with us for your rack calculation.

Rail type and mounting. Confirm the cabinet’s rail standard and whether shelves or cage nuts are needed.

For capacity planning: at 3U per module, a standard 42U rack accommodates fourteen modules on space alone, approximately 71 kWh, before allowing for the DC distribution, controller and cable management that also need rack units. Plan the rack elevation, not just the battery count.