When your 19-inch rack equipment has to leave the safety of a fixed installation and travel — to a live broadcast, a remote scientific deployment, a touring production, or an industrial site — the journey is where the real risk lives. Vibration on a truck bed, the shock of a dropped flight case at a loading dock, dust and moisture in an open yard: each of these can quietly destroy electronics that cost many times more than the case protecting them. The Peli BlackBox 3U Rack Mount Case (Long Version) is engineered for exactly this problem. It is a lightweight yet genuinely rugged transport solution that lets you move a fully populated 3U rack with confidence, then deploy it and service it without ever pulling the gear out of the case.

Why professionals choose this case

The BlackBox 3U is built around a single idea: your installed equipment should arrive in the same condition it left in. To achieve that, the case combines a tough composite shell, a true 19-inch steel rack frame, and a dedicated shock-isolation system that floats your gear inside the case rather than bolting it rigidly to a shell that transmits every impact.

The outer shell is moulded from Peli's durable Black-463 blended resin — a material chosen for excellent impact resistance and dependable light-to-medium-duty shock protection. It shrugs off the knocks of daily transport, resists corrosion, and keeps its shape under stacking loads, all while staying light enough that a two-person crew can move and position it without specialist handling equipment.

A real 19-inch rack frame, built to standard

Inside the shell sits a 24-inch (61 cm) deep light-duty steel rack frame finished in corrosion-resistant zinc black. This is not an improvised mounting strip — it is a proper rack frame engineered to carry payloads of up to 45.4 kg and built to comply with the ANSI/EIA 310-C standard. That means your standard 19-inch rack-mountable hardware bolts straight in using the threaded rails it was designed for, with the spacing and tolerances the industry relies on.

The "Long Version" designation refers to the extended frame depth, giving you room for deeper rack units — amplifiers, servers, power distribution, signal processing — that simply will not fit a short-frame transit case.

Shock isolation that actually isolates

The heart of the BlackBox is its vibration-isolation system. Eight cylindrical elastomeric shock mounts are fitted directly to the case shoulders, suspending the rack frame within the shell. These mounts provide 2 inches (5.1 cm) of sway space — the clearance the suspended frame needs to move and absorb energy before any shock reaches your equipment. Instead of transmitting road vibration and impact directly into sensitive components, the system lets the frame ride independently, dissipating the energy across the elastomeric mounts. For instrumentation, broadcast electronics, and communications hardware, that difference is the difference between gear that keeps working and gear that fails on arrival.

Dual-access lids and effortless mobility

Both ends of the case open. The front and rear lids are removable, measuring 2.2 inches (5.6 cm) and 5.2 inches (13.2 cm) deep respectively, giving you full front-and-rear access to your installed equipment. You can run cabling, make connections, and service the back of the rack without ever removing the hardware from the frame — the case becomes the working enclosure, not just the shipping container.

Mobility is built in. Both lids carry moulded-in 3.25-inch (82.6 mm) edge casters, so the case rolls smoothly across loading bays, venue floors, and warehouse aisles. Four plastic comfort-grip handles give a crew secure, ergonomic lifting points when the case needs to be carried, loaded, or positioned by hand.

Sealed, stackable, and secure

A closed-loop gasket combined with a built-in pressure relief (purge) valve keeps the interior airtight and watertight, protecting your equipment from dust and moisture ingress while still allowing the case to equalise pressure after changes in altitude or temperature — important when cases travel by air or move between climates. Closure is handled by spring-loaded stainless steel hardware finished in nickel black, engineered for a secure latch and long-term durability through thousands of open-and-close cycles. The moulded-in rib design reinforces the shell, improves structural stability, and lets cases interlock and stack neatly in storage and transit.

Real-world use cases

Audio and video production — transport amplifier racks, mixing and signal-processing hardware, and recording equipment between studios, stages, and outside-broadcast vehicles.
Satellite and radio communications — deploy and protect transceivers, repeaters, and control gear in the field and on temporary sites.
Scientific instrumentation — move sensitive measurement and data-acquisition racks to remote test sites and back without recalibration headaches caused by transit shock.
Industrial and rental use — a rugged, sealed, rollable rack enclosure for equipment that lives on the road and has to survive rough handling.

What's inside the box

You receive the complete Peli BlackBox 3U Long Version case: the Black-463 composite shell, the 24-inch deep steel 19-inch rack frame (ANSI/EIA 310-C, up to 45.4 kg), eight elastomeric shock mounts, four comfort-grip handles, moulded-in edge casters, removable front and rear lids, the gasket-and-valve sealing system, and the spring-loaded stainless steel closures — ready to populate with your 3U rack hardware.

Technical specifications

Model: Peli BlackBox 3U Rack Mount Case, Long Version
Rack capacity: 3U, 19-inch rack-mountable equipment
Shell material: Black-463 blended resin
Rack frame: 24-inch (61 cm) deep, light-duty steel, zinc black corrosion-resistant finish
Standard compliance: ANSI/EIA 310-C
Maximum payload: up to 45.4 kg
Shock isolation: 8 cylindrical elastomeric shock mounts on the case shoulders
Sway space: 2 inches (5.1 cm)
Front lid depth: 2.2 inches (5.6 cm)
Rear lid depth: 5.2 inches (13.2 cm)
Casters: moulded-in 3.25-inch (82.6 mm) edge casters
Handles: 4 plastic comfort-grip handles
Hardware: spring-loaded stainless steel, nickel black finish
Sealing: closed-loop gasket with integrated pressure relief valve (airtight / watertight, dust and moisture protection)
Access: removable front and rear lids
Construction: moulded-in rib design for stacking and structural stability
SKU: BLACKBOX30-3U-M6

Backed by Peli's reputation for protective cases trusted by professionals worldwide, the BlackBox 3U Long Version is a long-term investment in the safe transport of equipment you cannot afford to lose.

BlackBox Rack Cases

Peli BlackBox 4U Rack Mount Case

Peli BlackBox 7U Rack Mount Case Long Version

Peli BlackBox 5U Rack Mount Case Long Version

Peli BlackBox 11U Rack Mount Case

Peli BlackBox 9U Rack Mount Case Long Version

Peli BlackBox 14U Rack Mount Case

Peli BlackBox 3U Rack Mount Case Long Version