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Acquisitions (Narrative) (Details) (USD $) | 15 Months Ended | 3 Months Ended |
--- | --- | --- | ---
Mar. 31, 2015 entity | Mar. 31, 2015 | Dec. 31, 2014
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |
Number of businesses acquired | 2 us-gaap_NumberOfBusinessesAcquired |  |
Titan Energy Worldwide Inc. [Member] |  |  |
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |
Business acquisition, effective date of acquisition |  | Dec. 02, 2014 |
Equity method investment, ownership percentage |  |  | 100.00%us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage / us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis = ppsi_TitanEnergyWorldwideIncorporatedMember
Transaction costs incurred |  |  | $ 700,000 us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionCostOfAcquiredEntityTransactionCosts / us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis = ppsi_TitanEnergyWorldwideIncorporatedMember
Harmonics Holdings Inc. [Member] |  |  |
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |
Business acquisition, effective date of acquisition |  | Jan. 16, 2015 |
Transaction costs incurred | 13,000 us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionCostOfAcquiredEntityTransactionCosts / us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis = ppsi_HarmonicsHoldingsIncorporatedMember | $ 13,000 us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionCostOfAcquiredEntityTransactionCosts / us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis = ppsi_HarmonicsHoldingsIncorporatedMember |

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- Definition Amount of direct costs of the business combination including legal, accounting, and other costs incurred to consummate the business acquisition. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Date when the acquirer obtains control of the acquiree, in CCYY-MM-DD format. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 10 -Section 25 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=34752592&loc=d3e845-128460 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Glossary Acquisition Date -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6919109 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 10 -Section 25 -Paragraph 7 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=34752592&loc=d3e848-128460 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -Subparagraph (b) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=25497992&loc=d3e1392-128463 + Details
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- Definition The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 323 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -Subparagraph (a)(1) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6382943&loc=d3e33918-111571 + Details
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- Details
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