Surge Protectors - Protecting Your Investment?

I have reason to believe many of my desktop problems have been caused by surges, or fluctuations in electricity. I'm not sure what it is, but I am weary of the whole electrical system used in my home.

I was using a serge protecting power bar, yet surges made it through and split my processor in half, burned out my power supply, fried my GeForce video card, and nullified one stick of ram. All of this occuring over about a 3 year period.

What are well known, reputable serge protecting power bars, that would be safe to use with a notebook? For such an expensive investment, one would like to be sure electrical fluctuations do not cause major hardware malfunctions and failures.

Is it safe to put two power bars into the same outlet? (One plugged in each socket unit on the same outlet on the wall). How many electronical devices are too many in a single room?

Thank You

 

I would just go with any big name brand in a local electronics store. They all really do the same thing unless you skimp and buy the $10 one. The only differences other than brand, is the amount of Joules they protect against. The best is going to be 3600+, meaning that the thing will take a vicious hit and your equipment won't be touched. Most brands will have some kind of warranty in which if your electronics still get fried, then they will cover it. Nice little feature.

As for the the amount in each socket. I wouldn't go with more than one power strip per socket, regardless of the amount of plug-ins on the socket. That is alot of electricity being fed between a few plugs if you have more than one strip maxed out. I'm not extremely knowledgeable in that area, but I do know that it could easily lead to blowing fuses etc.

Anyways, good luck, and I hope nothing touches your system again.


Blake

 

Thanks for the post. So I am looking for surge protectors that protect 3600+ Joules? I've heard about that product protection guarentee. Wasn't sure on the details though.

Do you know of a price range for such products?

 

It depends on how much protection you want. I don't really think you are going to need all 3600 Joules of that protection, but after checking some prices, the 2600 Joule range was $75-$150 depending on included feautures. So I think that you should grab a "basic" one with around that much protection and it won't be over $100. I hope that helped some, I know these things are pricey, my jaw hit the floor when I went to go look at them.

 

I use a small in-line surge protector at all times. Mine looks like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ISP6-IN-Line-...categoryZ96907QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting but I would expect there to be other similar products. This unit is small and adds a negligible amount to the travelling weight. When less mobile I also have a bigger surge protector in the power socket.

John

 

I have a UPS.....great protection.....

another reason I have to have it is because I run my laptop using an external drive...and if power dies off suddenly, though my laptop has a battery and can sustain..my external drive is gonna die...and hearing all those reports that external harddisk can easily be fried because of power dips/surges....I guess I'm gonna play safe...

 

I second the UPS for the same reasons. The cheap surge protectors are normally one shot, then nothing. As for the ones with $20K protection, anyone collect?

Good battery UPS's can be had for $70 at Sam's, ect. but check out the claimed lightning protecton. The multi-Kv spikes are what get ya if they don't go to ground.

 

Surge Protectors only work if the surge exceeds a certain threshold which is usually quite high. Thus, they are worth **** in my opinion. UPS's are the only way to go, especially for a desktop computer. Mine switches to battery almost daily for a few seconds due to power fluctuations (I live in a very old dorm, power here isn't very reliable). APC is a good brand from my experience.

 

UPS is definitely the best bet for protection from power surges. And since you don't need a powerful UPS (eg. my e1705 power supply has max power draw of 90w) you can actually get one of the cheaper ones at your local electronics store.

Also look for UPS/surge protectors that come with equipment damage gurantees (eg. upto $10000 etc) as a guide.

 

Well I was looking at this page:
http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/c...F1FA3D81A94AF99C7822B2AC6D3168EA408B1F6C3F5AA

Seems like the Belkin brand is the one with the guarentee $ to a certain amount. Which one of those would you recommend?

 

Just checked what a UPS is, wonder where one of those can be had, and for how much.

 

Not a bad idea, what's the cost? Do you have to be state licensed to do the install?

 

Thanks, the question was for liablity - if something goes boom.

As my neighboor, Allstate wants to know who wired the extra circuits and he must show the paperwork if he wants the damage, $4K, covered. He has the paperwork.

I'm going to check out the Cuttler Hammer, Thx.

 

What you're looking for is a Power Conditioning Surge suppressor:

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=power+conditioner+surge&hl=en&lr=&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title

Or a good UPS. Computers are more susceptible to small power fluctuations, out-of-spec power, brownouts (where power is there, but not normal voltage/frequency), which are MUCH more common than pure surges. Don't use cheap, grocery store power bars and power strips, and you should be fine.

 

Which specific one on that page? They range from $24.67 to $285.77.

Which of these would you recommend:
http://www.futureshop.ca/search/searchresult.asp?logon=&langid=EN&search=KWS

Or from the link I posted earler?

 

Another recomendation for a UPS. I have a large one so it was a bit expensive($220) but thats because I use it to protect my laptop, all-in-one printer, desktop and monitor, and speakers. If you are just trying to protect a laptop, then one of the smaller and cheaper ones is most likely all you will need.

 

Well, I might as well put the desktop, monitor and accessories in the UPS as well, considoring there will be a significant strain on the outlet with the electronic devices using electricity. Which one do you have (a link is possible), how has it been so far?

 

Amen, I did the same thing a couple of years ago after I figured out that a power surge probably fried our energy efficient furnace, and we had to pay $300 to have it fixed. The surge arrestor cost $60, and was very easy to install. So many things in your house can be toast after a surge. Your local power company may have the option to install one at the meter. You're right, a layered system is the best way.

 

whats a good UPS to protect my laptop, desktop (shuttle PC), monitor, and modem, and a few misc stuff like PSP charger, ipod charger, phone charger?

 

http://www.apc.com/template/Country_Selection.cfm?continent=NAM&ref_url=/index.cfm

Please link to the best one for computers and notebooks.