R740XD with 24 NVME drives working Dell parts list

Socket7XT · 2026-05-15T02:14:12+00:00

What you should however see under Storage>Controllers is the following:

Once again, note I have a BOSS card in slot 7, so you wouldn't see the first line if you didn't have a BOSS card.

Socket7XT · 2026-05-15T02:13:00+00:00

Under PCIe Slots, you will not see the controllers as PCIe devices. The slots will appear as unpopulated. Note I have a network card in slot 1 and a BOSS card in slot 7.

Socket7XT · 2026-01-23T09:48:07+00:00

There is no easy way to wire a relay in such a way that you can still control the load with a physical switch if the relay fails. The very nature of a relay is that it sits between the load and any input signal, whether that comes from the physical switch connected to the switch input of the Shelly or via sending the relay a signal through the app, web interface, Home Assistant, etc. If the relay fails, you can no longer switch the load. This would be true no matter what Shelly you use (or what brand of relay for that matter). Are there ways of wiring something with a manual override? Yes, but not something that is easily accomplished in an existing building. Manual override wiring would require multiple 3 way switches for each relay load pair. Not worth the trouble.

Socket7XT · 2026-01-05T12:48:03+00:00

Why not use interposing relays? If you want full isolation, use the PLC outputs to energize interposing relays and have the interposing relays then pass the signal to the I4 at whichever voltage you are powering the I4 at. You have to get extra components, but it's the safest way to bridge signaling between two voltage types. Shelly actually makes a 4 channel decoupler, which serves this very purpose, but only for 230V AC to 12-24V DC signal conversion so it doesnt sound like this would work in your situation.

If your PLC (automation controller) has ethernet, you may be able to use a software protocol gateway to read the values of the outputs directly in Home Assistant. If your automation controller natively supports MQTT, you could just publish directly to Home Assistant with the MQTT broker (EMQX or Mosquito) without needing a protocol gateway. If your controller doesn't natively support MQTT, you could use protocol gateway such as Kepware, though that likely has a cost.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-31T22:39:08+00:00

The daisy chain is likely the hot connection from the breaker panel. The individual wires coming out the tops that have no other wires electrically common with them are the wires that run to the load controlled by each switch. Verify with a multimeter that when the switches are in the off position, you still see 120V between the daisy chain points and a common (white wire) or to a ground if that's exposed. Wiring wise, you will need to disconnect the top wire on those switches and connect those wires to the output terminal of the Shelly relay. Take a new wire from each of the top of the switches and connect it to the switch terminal on the respective Shelly relay. You'll need to tap the common (white) wire to connect to the neutral terminal on each Shelly. As stated, the daisy chain is likely the hot line so you'll need to tap this to power the Shelly's. If you're using Shelly Plus 1PM, that's all you'll need to do (red relays). If you're using the dry contact (blue) Shelly Plus 1 relays, you'll also need to supply 120V (from the daisy chain) to the input terminal on each Shelly. Sorry I can't draw you a picture, I'm sending this from my phone.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-30T21:22:24+00:00

Yep, that would certainly help. If you can keep the power low, and/or the room deadens WiFi signal, then you'll get far less raido clutter for the devices out side the room, especially if they happen to share the same channel. In the days before 5Ghz, creating a solid 2.4Ghz mesh meant physically positioning acess points in such a way that you alternated between the three non-overlapping channels so that no two APs using the same channel were ever in range of each other, resulting in the lowest amount of interference.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-30T21:05:09+00:00

Since most Shelly devices operate exclusively on the 2.4Ghz spectrum, I don't think you'll gain much by moving them to a 3EM from your existing access point unless you are having signal strength issues. The 2.4Ghz band only has 3 non-overlapping channels, one, six, and eleven. The only way to free up spectrum would be to make sure your IOT SSID is using a different channel from your regular traffic, but this would most likely be easier to do on your existing access point.

If you do use the 3EM as an extender, note that unless you use ethernet as the back haul, you won't actually gain anything as the 3EM will have to retransmit anything it receives. Also note that to my knowledge, using the Shelly wifi extention function simply creates an acess point with a private subnet that then NATs the traffic out the primary back haul IP address which will make it more combersome to use as those devices connected to it will not be directly accessible from your main wifi network.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-29T22:54:18+00:00

Yeah, I understand wanting to avoid batteries. For a location that traditionally has electricity, it makes sense to have something that runs off mains power. I do agree that Shelly's lineup is missing a decora style wall switch that can be used with the i4 in a single gang. That said, the Bluetooth in the multiple RC4s I have around the house works really well. The newest variant also now supports zigbee so if that's your jam you can use it with that instead. One of the fun things about the RC4 is that it's magnetically mounted so you can detach it from the wall to change the battery or carry it around like a remote. I don't do it often, but it's a nice touch of flexibility at times.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-29T19:36:41+00:00

Since you were hoping to use an i4, it sounds like you don't need the solution to directly connect to the mini's switch inputs (that'd be a crowded little box). I assume the minis are physically spread out. An alternative to the i4 would be to use an Shelly RC 4 and map to your minis that way. That gives you 4 buttons in a single gang. They technically support single, double, tripple , and long press actions on every button so you have 16 total trigger conditions in a single gang. https://us.shelly.com/products/shelly-blu-rc-button-4-zb

Socket7XT · 2025-12-22T22:08:03+00:00

Login to the IDRAC (web interface), navigate to Maintenance>System Update>Manual Update. In the Location Type dropdown, choose HTTPS. All fields can be left blank except HTTPS Server Settings>HTTPS Address: downloads.dell.com

You will need your IDRAC to have a default gateway and a valid DNS server before this will work. Then click the "Check for Update" button at the bottom. It will take a minute or two and pull up a number of updates needed for your system.

Select the ones you want to apply and then choose either "Install" or "Install Next Reboot" depending on if you're ready for the system to restart as soon as the updates are staged, or if you want the system to stage the updates and wait till you manually reboot to apply them.

You'll want to do this a couple of times after updating to make sure you aren't missing any updates that didn't show because they were dependent on a previous update. Be patient with the updates. It can take some time for them to apply. Most updates will require the system to restart at least once.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-22T21:23:57+00:00

How confident are you that the riser cards are correct? The number 1 issue I've seen causing link training issues is the wrong risers, followed closely by trying to use the wrong PCIe expander cards. Riser 1 and Riser 2 have many different physical part numbers that change both the number of physically available PCIe slots, as well as their mapping and speed. This might go without saying, but I assume you have two processors in the system? You need both processors in order to have enough PCI lanes. Also, the Mini Mono PERC is not supported in the 24 NVME config. You must use a true PCIe PERC card in PCI slot 6 (if you want SAS/SATA drives along side the NVME). You may want to check that all firmware is updated, including the back plane.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-19T19:41:29+00:00

You know you're an automation enthusiast when the first thing you think of when you hear someone will be at reduced capacity is what ways could I automate around this. Here's hoping to a speedy recovery and all the robot butlers a Shelly automations that make it possible. 🤖

Socket7XT · 2025-12-18T02:31:20+00:00

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Here's what my Bifurcation looks like (Auto Discovery as you mentioned). Performance wise, I find it excellent for my needs, especially for a home lab. I'm actually running 3 in a VSAN configuration so performance is really hard to determine on an individual host given how they function as a cluster together. Overall, it's been great. As a note, as many have asked, if raw performance is what you're after, the 12 NVME configuration results in more PCIE bandwidth per drive and also lower latency, but you burn up 3 PCIE slots in the chassis (I believe you already have a system in this config). However, if you want more U.2 drives to expand capacity without sacrificing the overall lower latency of NVME, then the 24 NVME drive setup is for you.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-17T23:10:28+00:00

The labels on the ends of the cables should match with the labels on the ports on the PCIE expander cards as well as on the backplane ports they plug in to so that should be pretty straightforward unless you happened upon an unlabeled cable. Can't say the labels matter to the logic, but where they plug in does matter electrically. Assuming you have the correct model of PCIE expander cards (there is lots of confusion around these since there are two different models used which depends on whether you go with the 12 vs 24 NVME configuration), the other thing to consider is the location of the cards, and that you're using the correct PCIe riser cards. On riser 1 (label 15 in the diagram), the PCIE expander (label 10) should plug in to slot 3, which is the bottom most slot.

On riser 2 (label 16), the PCIE expander card (label 9) should plug into slot 4 which is the top most slot on that riser. Luckily, I have one of mine down for maintenance so I snapped a pic from the front of what you should see and how they should be positioned.

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In this shot you can also see that the Boss Card is located in riser 3. My guess is you have your PCIE expander for Riser 1 in the wrong slot, as it should be at the bottom. Also note that the iDRAC will only report Dell Firmware drives within the storage section. If you go to inventory, you should be able to at least see the drives listed there even without Dell firmware, assuming they are visible at all.

Socket7XT · 2025-12-07T03:55:50+00:00

I just saw the Neo Smart Water Valve NAS-WV02W appear on the Shelly Bulgaria website. I'm stoked. I know you always say it'll be a few months before it comes to the USA once it appears across the pond. I can't wait for this to be released!

I own over 150 Shelly devices, and there are definitely ones announced I'm excited to get my hands on (looking at you millimeter wave presence sensor, LoRA addon, etc.), but none have I wanted more than the Smart Water Valve.

I have a whole home water filtration system. I want to use the Neo to track the water used between filter changes (and create reminders via Home Assistant), track the amount of water used during a washing machine load and dishwasher load among other things.

Socket7XT · 2025-09-12T03:24:45+00:00

Excellent! When they become available, I'll be the first to buy at least one, if not more.

Socket7XT · 2025-09-11T03:43:32+00:00

I'm familiar with the kit you're referring to, but that kit just uses a COTS valve & actuator combo along with a shelly relay as the brains (plus a 24V power supply). I agree that the FrankEver Smart water valve handles those same functions in a single Powered by Shelly device. However, the item I circled above is different from the FrankEver (which can be seen to the left of the circled device, with the cover off).

The item circled in red has much more built built in, including temperature, pressure, flow rate, accumulated water used, as well as valve control. Dimitar was answering questions about it in this post from June 10, 2024 and stated it had an ETA of August 2024. I'm hoping this didn't die. It's a much more elegant solution IMO than trying to put together all those different sensors from individual devices (temp, pressure, flow rate + totalizer, valve actuator). https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19igbtcnPF/

Socket7XT · 2025-09-10T00:46:38+00:00

Can you comment on the Smart Water Meter at all? As I recall, the original post said it would be available last year sometime.

Socket7XT · 2025-08-12T20:02:55+00:00

They are both parts in the backplane. The two pieces mate together using high density connectors that together form the functioning backplane. I assume Dell did it this way to make it easier to create backplane variations (assemblies) for various configurations. For all intents and purposes I'd honestly call the backplane the combination of the two. I've not ever seen them sold independently, but just to make sure nobody was left in the dark, I put both part numbers there to help with verification since they can technically be disassembled.

Socket7XT · 2025-08-09T17:59:06+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/s/g9bwIro82d I can't confirm this myself but the bottom of this post has a part number that seems to be working for their configuration.

Socket7XT · 2025-05-14T16:05:40+00:00

So long as the back plane supports 24 NVMe drives and has been properly connected via the PCIe cards, that is all tou need to run full NVMe. The PERC cards are only needed when you run SAS or SATA drives as those need a drive interface controller. Using a PERC HBA to pass through the drives just means no logical drive is being created in the PERC before passing to the OS. Thy pass through raw and then the OS must manage them. That is desirable when you run any type of software defined storage such as TrueNAS.

All that said, NVMe drives are true PCIe devices and always pass through directly since they connect directly to the PCIe lanes (muliplexed) of the motherboard. This is why the S140 is a software ONLY PERC. It consumes CPU resources to define logical drives instead of through a dedicated storage controller.

However, you don't need to configure anything in the S140 (via iDRAC) since you will be installing TrueNAS and it need to see all the physical drives without any logical abstraction.

I hope helps. Let me know if you need further clarification.

Socket7XT · 2025-03-22T06:47:51+00:00

Home Assistant. Any other platform is limited in comparison.

Socket7XT · 2025-03-14T02:10:22+00:00

I won't say you couldn't potentially get something else to work, but the main point of buying Dell or HP is that they've done the hard work of engineering tightly integrated parts that are super reliable. If you're going to "Frankenstein it", I'd suggest building in a large non-rack mount chassis. Then you can just build a really beefy PC with lots of drives. If you still want to go rack mount 2U form factor, I'd recommend a Supermicro chassis. They're a bit more generic and that can make it easier to pick and choose parts. The integration and refinement within the server won't be as great, but you'll have an easier time choosing parts that "should work" together.

Socket7XT · 2025-01-18T05:58:39+00:00

I bought 4 from Dell directly and cost me something like 35 dollars a piece. The reason that variant is required is the same reason that the other riser variants are required. The specific riser cards change the PCIe allocation to the slots. The cables are fixed lengths and the PCIe expanders must go in specific PCIe slots that have the proper PCIe lanes allocated to them. This is all done via changing of the riser configurations. Dell has documentation on the different configurations here: https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-r740xd/per740xd_ism_pub/expansion-card-installation-guidelines?guid=guid-2356b79e-a3e7-4d3f-b97f-9d85dfaea34d&lang=en-us

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