Patent ID: 7877622

Claim:
A method of selecting a redundant power supply mode for powering a computer system, the computer system powered by a plurality of power supplies, each power supply having an input voltage and an output, the output connected to at least two output paths, the two output paths capable of being electrically connected, one output path of each power supply comprising an isolated line, another output path of each power supply comprising a common line, the isolated lines of a first group of the power supplies connected together at an isolated line connection point, the isolated lines of a second group of power supplies connected together at another isolated line connection point, the common lines of the first group of power supplies connected together at a common line connection point, the common lines of the second group of power supplies connected together at another common line connection point, each common line connection point electrically connected to an isolated line connection point, each common line connection point carrying current only when the output paths of a power supply are electrically connected, the method comprising: detecting, by a voltage monitoring module, an input voltage level of a power supply; determining, by the voltage monitoring module, whether the input voltage level of the power supply is greater than a predetermined threshold value; if the input voltage level of the power supply is greater than the predetermined threshold value, configuring, by the voltage monitoring module, the power supply for an N+N redundant power supply mode having N primary power supplies and N redundant power supplies, wherein N is an integer greater than zero; and if the input voltage level of the power supply is not greater than the predetermined threshold value, configuring, by the voltage monitoring module, the power supply for an N+M redundant power supply mode having N primary power supplies and M redundant power supplies, wherein M is an integer greater than zero and N is greater than M.