Surge Protector Recommendations

Anyone have good recommendation for surge protector? Looking at amazon and there are tons of them... but i notice in many of these great reviews... lot of top comments seem to say negative about it.

Don't want to spend a ton on one like 50+ dollars etc. I notice many that are 20 dollars and under... are those fine? I know joules is what you need to look at. The current one im using has 600 joules and work good but im using one that I bought outside the US which im at right now.


Like to get a good recommended one in the US on amazon/best buy etc when I use it in the US.

 

Look for one with high joules and a decent warranty. It doesn't have to be a huge Surge Protector box but one enough to handle the amount of devices you will be using. And make sure it has a fault detector that helps too to know they are providing the security you need to use your equipment.

 

I'm using one of these for my server setup and it's rock solid
Belkin 12-Outlet Pivot-Plug Power Strip Surge Protector, 8ft Cord(4,320 Joules)

Might be overkill for what you're planning on using it for but, I've had it for a couple of years now and no power issues outside of grid issues. To put it into perspective during the TX power grid issues it held up to the grid trips over a couple of days when they power was rolling on/off during the grid strain back in Feb. Optionally you could also do a whole house surge protector for about $100 that gets wired into the panel / breaker box.

As to the what to look for.... Higher Joules will last longer as the elements internally will be able to take the hits from the power grid for a longer period vs the cheaper lower rated options. Basic power strips will protect you to a point but a good trip will require replacing them more frequently for adequate protection. I would aim for at least 1500 joules when selecting a device to protect your investments. Skimping on this sort of thing when you're talking about $1000's of equipment doesn't make sense though it's tempting to only spend $10 vs $30 for a power strip.

When you have $5K of stuff plugged into something it's better to pay a little more for a better rated product that's more substantial than the run of the mill stuff you pick up at the store down the road.

 

Any recommendation, not tempered by numbers, is always best ignored. For example, what is a high joule protector? Scammer will recommend one that can 'block' or 'absorb' thousands of joules. That is near zero. Electronics will already convert thousands joule surges into rock stable, low DC volts that safely power semiconductors.

Worse, a plug-in protector can even compromise (bypass) that superior existing protection.

Effective protectors always answer this question. Where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate?

Most people only recommend Type 3 protectors. Because a massive advertising campaign has ordered them to believe. Type 3 protectors must remain more than 30 feet from a breaker box and earth ground. Because they are only thousands of joules - can cause fires. https://imgur.com/hwCWHMW

Where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate? Ben Franklin demonstrated that over 250 years ago. Earth ground. A protector never does protection. Effective protectors connect low impedance (ie less than 3 meters) to single point earth ground. Only those claim effective protection. Come from other manufacturers known for integrity. And not promoted by a massive disinformation campaign.

No protector does protection. Not one. Effective protectors are a connecting device to what does all protection - earth ground. Only Type 1 or Type 2 protectors can make that low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to earth. Not grossly undersized (Type 3 protectors are undersized).

More numbers. Because only honest replies provide perspective. Lightning can be 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector is 50,000 amps. Effective protection means every appliance (not just a notebook) must be protected. Lightning must not even damage a protector. Effective protection remains functional for many decades after many direct lightning strikes. Another reason why numbers must be provided with every recommendation.

How much do the many (who ignore all numbers) spend for a tiny thousands joule protector? $25 or $80 for a $3 power strip with five cent protector parts. Profit margins are massive.

How much will one spend for a UPS that only claims hundreds of joules? $60 or $300? At what point does the word scam have significance?

Effective protection means best protection, at each appliance, already inside every appliance, is not overwhelmed. Even a protector must remain undamaged. Best protection for all appliances on all circuits (two prong plugs or three) has always been (even over 100 years ago) a properly earthed 'whole house' solution.

Earthing is the item that requires most attention. That is the art of protection.

Above is only the 'secondary' protection layer. Also ask about and inspect your 'primary' protection layer. Every layer of protection is only defined by that earth ground - not and never by any protector. Each layer of protection is about where hundreds of thousands of joules are harmlessly 'absorbed'.

 

Grounding is your first layer of protection and a high joule intermediary is piece of mind.

I went with the one I picked because it was a decent middle ground between protection / price. There are tons of options on the market and most of them aren't worth the plastic they're made of. The innards are what matter more than the marketing or price of the device. UPS is one route and that just simply provides you time to properly shutdown devices that don't act well after a sudden power failure i.e. devices with compressors (fridge)... the fans in a PC aren't going to be sensitive to this sort of thing though.

Provided everything is grounded / wired properly then thinking about the response above mentioning 20K+ amps being introduced to the line would trip the Meter/ Breaker along the path as most residential service is rated for 100/200 amp. For commercial use the service loads coming in are a bigger pipe depending on the property size and use requirements. Taking into consideration say a Convenience Store might need 200 amp service or even get by on 100 amp service for the few appliances and fluorescent lighting. A data center on the other hand would chew up 200 amp service and spit it out for just a couple racks of equipment being powered on depending on how the plant feeding it is designed / converted to DC.

The bigger picture would be looking at your current appliances / lighting and determining if things are dying too soon or lasting longer than expected. This is a clue on how your current wiring is performing and carrying the load. If things like light bulbs are dying frequently there's probably an issue that needs to be dealt with on either end of the line being the outlet, wiring, or breaker. When in doubt get an electrician to test the wiring and power systems.

 

Those two amp numbers have no relationship. A 20,000 amp transient will not trip any 100 or 200 amp breaker. Other parameters apply.

Just to be clear, there is no one ground. Each ground must be defined by a preceding adjective. Chassis ground, logic ground, virtual ground, automobile ground, safety (equipment) ground, floating ground, ground plane on an antenna, etc have no relevant to the only ground essential to protect that an all other appliances.

A protector is only as effective as its low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to and the quality of single point earth ground. Only that ground harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules. Effective protection only exists when that energy is not anywhere inside hunting for earth ground destructively via all appliances.