# Surge Protectors..



## loading... (Sep 4, 2008)

Well, the other day we had hurricane/tropical storm FAY come by, and well the storm was up north a bit that day but the thunderstorms were in my area, so the power went out for one second, and I realized I had no surge protector, now I'm wondering what surge protector would be the best.

I see stuff like 750 joules and upto 3000 joules, what's a decent surge protector that won't blow up my computer, TV, printer, clock, etc?


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

The more joules the better. While most homes have circuit breakers it's not enough to protect sensitive equipment. if you currently have surge protectors that have not suppressed a surge, but have been in use for a few years, it's best to replace them anyway.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

you could always use a UPS .. the idea being that if the p0wer goes above or below certain limits then it automatically cuts the power and goes over to battery. There is a finite time for the switch over but they usually have overvoltage protection in the form of Varistors at the input .. in-line are good because they take the incoming voltage , convert to Dc then back to ac to keep the output voltage steady.


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## loading... (Sep 4, 2008)

ebackhus said:


> The more joules the better. While most homes have circuit breakers it's not enough to protect sensitive equipment. if you currently have surge protectors that have not suppressed a surge, but have been in use for a few years, it's best to replace them anyway.


-- Well actually my mom bought a surge protector at like Costco, it works fine while running the TV my other computer DVD player etc. 

But my computer and all of my other electronics are under some type of surge protector or just under a bunch of outlets.. 



Done_Fishin said:


> you could always use a UPS .. the idea being that if the p0wer goes above or below certain limits then it automatically cuts the power and goes over to battery. There is a finite time for the switch over but they usually have overvoltage protection in the form of Varistors at the input .. in-line are good because they take the incoming voltage , convert to Dc then back to ac to keep the output voltage steady.


I'm really interested in getting a UPS, but they are pretty expensive.

What your saying, is that they're like surge protectors, they will protect from over voltage and even use the over voltage as power?

I guess getting a surge protector for 20 bucks is ok..
but the UPS can help when the power goes out.. =]


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

A surge protector doers no more than protect your equipment from fluctuations in Voltage that exceed certain limits. This is done by components that start to conduct electricity when the voltage exceeds their rated value. 

A UPS will protect your equipment from both under-voltage and over-voltage conditions. An in-line type unit will stabilise the outgoing voltage irrespective of the incoming voltage. Should the incoming voltage go over or under the tolerances required by the equipment then the incoming voltage will be disconnected from the UPS until such time as the incoming voltage stabilises again. The UPS will then work off of Battery giving the user several minutes (when the battery is new & depending upon the rating & Load of the UPS) to close down any equipment that is connected & running to it. 

A UPS is there for protection of your equipment and allow you to have a controlled shutdown. It is not there to allow your equipment to run 24/7 when the power fails

If the Battery is drained it will require time to recharge before it will protect again.

Most domestic UPS are only designed for a limited protection in terms of allowing continued use after power failure .. usually up to 15 minutes depending upon load.


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## psyclops (Sep 17, 2008)

surge protector worked fine for me


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## loading... (Sep 4, 2008)

Yup well I got a surge protector today from CompUSA and also bought me x2 GTA 8600GT 1GB SLI.

Check out my surge protector, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=914025&CatId=232

It's pretty small, it looks big in the picture but it's tiny =]


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

psyclops said:


> surge protector worked fine for me


How do you know?

Did you get a power surge which tripped whilst you had just spent a few hours doing work on your PC only to have it shut down automatically?

Hope you make regular backups .. 

A surge protector will most likely pop the fuse or switch in your fusebox when it's working properly due to the extra current it takes trying to maintain a peak voltage against Neutral & Earth. It uses your cable resistance to try to drop the excess voltage when trying to short out the extra Voltages. If the safety mechanism on your fusebox doesn't "pop" then the varistor probably will .. I have even seen varistors totally burnt out along with most of the PCB they were sitting on and the surrounding protective covers when the amount of energy consumed was greater than the rated value of the varistor, but neither of the 3 Amp fuses in the device blew, allowing the varistor to consume 3 * 250 VA approx (Note: A fuse will not blow at it's rated value but blow when it surpasses approx 1.5 times its rated value, due to the thermal effect of current flowing through the fuse wire.)

make sure that you have the surge protected protected with a low rated fuse at the fuse box.

I did a quick search on the net and came up with this page for reference

http://www.control.com/thread/1026164063#1026164326

also take a look at this page .. and take note of EVERYTHING that was written .. it also applies when using equipment directly .. he just happened to use it on a stepdown transformer.

http://www.gson.org/stepdown/

and at this site here is a warning, it's a bit old (July 1996) but believe me the message still holds true today.

http://www.purdue.edu/rem/home/files/news/july96.htm



> SURGE SUPPRESSOR CAN CAUSE FIRES
> 
> (From Environmental Health and Safety Update, University of Washington)
> 
> ...


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## loading... (Sep 4, 2008)

So what your saying is to un-protect my computer.. -.-

I highly doubt what your saying is even 10% true.
What kind of protectors did they use in 1996? 

O well, at least if it does happen I can sue someone right?
Highly doubt that the surge protector can cause me more damage than a surge or spike.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

FWIW . . When Ike came thru here last week, in our area, power went out and quickly back on a number of times before going off completely for a day.

I have replaced 5 powersupplies for clients so far . . every one was connected to a Surge Protector. So far, none of my clients using UPS ( which I reccomend to each one ) have lost a power supply.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

loading... said:


> So what your saying is to un-protect my computer.. -.-
> 
> I highly doubt what your saying is even 10% true.
> What kind of protectors did they use in 1996?
> ...


No!! .. What I am saying is to be aware of the limitations of the device you have put in place to protect your computer.

If it goes into protection mode once .. replace it or get it checked by someone who really knows what they are doing, and have any of the internal protective devices replaced if they look like they have any sort of leakage.

It will do its job but you have no idea at all whether the devices that have taken a hit are working properly or not. They might have a small leakage or they might even go open circuit. I have noticed that in some of the more expensive rack mounted UPS's that the Varistors or protective components are also pushed up close to thermal fuses as extra protection against leakage and overheating.

and what Simpswr says above is very true .. a UPS will actually give you far more protection than a surge protector any day. Which is the message that I have been trying to get across to you.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

a surge protector is good and I use one for everything I own that must be plugged in but for my computer I use ups. 

some things to remember, surge protectors will not protect you from lightning, major power fluxuations and it must be replace every year or so.

If power goes on and off as it sometimes does during heavy winds or right before/after a area wide outage, it can damage your system - even with a surge protector. That is why using a ups is very important. Surge protectors will only help you with minor surges up to its ratings and only for so long before it is damaged by all the surges. 

A ups will provide continuous power giving you time to safely turn it off. 

Besides, I keep a lamp plugged into my ups so I can have a light for about 20 minutes or so when power does go out.


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