Share based compensation arrangement by share based payment award percent of actual amount of units earned.

No definition available.

Name:	powl_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardPercentOfActualAmountOfUnitsEarned
Namespace Prefix:	powl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Share based compensation arrangement by share based payment award target RSU granted range.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	powl_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardTargetRSUGrantedRange
Namespace Prefix:	powl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Represents the expense recognized during the period arising from equity-based compensation arrangements (for example, shares of stock, unit, stock options or other equity instruments) with employees, directors and certain consultants qualifying for treatment as employees.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SAB Topic 14.F)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27013229&loc=d3e301413-122809

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5047-113901

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (h)(1)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AllocatedShareBasedCompensationExpense
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Period which an employee's right to exercise an award is no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardAwardVestingPeriod1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of non-vested equity-based payment instruments, excluding stock (or unit) options, that validly exist and are outstanding as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)(2)(i)-(ii)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardEquityInstrumentsOtherThanOptionsNonvestedNumber
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_RestrictedStockUnitsRSUMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementClassOfStockAxis=powl_TimeBasedRestrictedStockUnitMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementClassOfStockAxis=powl_PerformanceBasedRestrictedStockUnitMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_RestrictedStockMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Stock-Based Compensation (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Feb. 29, 2016	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Sep. 30, 2016
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Vesting period	3 years
Unvested restricted stock outstanding		193,537		159,988
Compensation expense		$ 0.9	$ 2.1
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) \| Time Based Restricted Stock Unit
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Actual amount of RSUs earned based on cumulative earnings	60.00%
Vesting period	3 years
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) \| Performance Based Restricted Stock Unit
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Vesting period	3 years
Target RSUs granted range	40.00%
Restricted Stock
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense		$ 0.1	$ 0.2