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Topic:
surge protectors
This thread has 7 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Monday November 1, 1999 at 15:04
Richard Castleberry
Historic Forum Post
I am in need of advise on 'surge protectors'
We have plenty of power outages and 'brown-outs'
here in Northern California, and I was told
PG&E will replace/repair equipment only if
it had some sort of protection device on it.
I saw, years ago in Consumer Reports, that
a UL listing called 1449 was what was needed.
Is that still current. I am trying to do
this in the under $50. range, am I on the
right track?
I have DSS, antenna, large screen tube TV,
VCR and standart audio gear.
Thanks in advance, Richard
OP | Post 2 made on Tuesday November 2, 1999 at 08:17
Ed Williams
Historic Forum Post
Check out www.apcc.com .

They sell stuff for computer equipment protection, and their mark-up isn't anywhere near what monster and that stuff sells for. I bought a $40 surge suppressor/line conditioner. It was the professional line, which covers $25,000 for any damage, and a lifetime replacement on the actual surge protector should it be damaged. They make high quality stuff. All the servers in our office (10 of them) are running on their battery back up systems.

This should take care of your problems, but if you are having problems with brownouts, you may want to consider a battery backup which will kick on the power when it dips below 105 volts.

Hope this helps
OP | Post 3 made on Tuesday November 2, 1999 at 19:40
David
Historic Forum Post
APC is very good equipment and so is Tripp Lite www.tripplite.com I have a little of both. The X-10 signals will go right through cheap "protectors" but not my Tripp Lite Isobar which has phone jack proctecion as well. Look for the ratings on each. Also look at protection on all three legs and between outlets!
OP | Post 4 made on Monday November 8, 1999 at 18:48
Chris Calomeni
Historic Forum Post
I have been researching this issue for about 2 years and have come to the conclusion that you get what you pay for. My basic problem with surge protection equipment is that most units employ Metal Oxide Varistors in their circuit design. The MOV's all have a rated life ie. so many hits at so many volts, but the surge protection units they are inside do not. Also many surge units send the surge to the ground pin. Like I really like the idea that my ground referance for all of my A/V equipment is now at what ever voltage potential of the surge. This can travel up through the chasis and into all of the interconnect shields to everything in my system before it finds a true earth ground somewhere. Good luck proving that a surge unit failed to protect your equipment when it was nuked by a spike that followed the ground on an interconnect. Also I don't like the noise that a battery back-up unit produces on the AC line. It is not a true sine wave coming off the batteries.
There is a product by ZeroSurge that impressed me but is only part of the answer to protecting expensive Home Theater gear.
OP | Post 5 made on Tuesday November 9, 1999 at 07:48
Dennis
Historic Forum Post
Does that mean the $40 surge protector I bought only provided me with more electrical OUTLETS and no real protection? I ran a polarity test to assure I was using a properly grounded receptacle.
The SP even included protection for the coaxial wire and phone wire, both of which are properly grounded.
OP | Post 6 made on Tuesday November 9, 1999 at 14:52
Daniel Tonks
Historic Forum Post
The problem is most surge protectors either don't have enough surge protection (not enough joules) or are too slow in responding to power problems. Usually, you're looking at the $75 mark at least for good quality. Those that have an insurance plan ($10,000 for instance) are usually of decent quality. The best option would be a UPS, but not eveyone has space for one.

I'll admit to being underprotected right now. My old entertainment unit had a good protector I mounted in it. But my new TV wouldn't fit in the old unit, so I gave it (including protector) to a relative. Now, everything is just on a splitter which is plugged into one of those Leviton surge-protectors-in-an-outlet. I keep meaning to buy something better... :-)
OP | Post 7 made on Wednesday November 10, 1999 at 12:40
Ed Williams
Historic Forum Post
Dennis,

If you spent $40, and got a high quality item like APC or TrippLite, I would say you are protected. What Chris said is certainly true, but the better protectors have a ground test to assure proper grounding in event of a spike. If the lines aren't properly grounded, a red light comes on, warning you to call an electrician.

In theory, this will prevent the spike from traveling up in the ground wire to your components.

Also, be sure that your unit will stop providing power if its surge protection is not working (see Chris's talk on MOV's). Many of the cheap units will continue to send power if the surge protection (MOV's) has been compromised. I know APC shuts off power, can't speak for TrippLite, but I imagine it does as well.

The important thing to ask yourself is How many people do you know that have had equipment damaged? I personally have only known 1 (lightning strike), although I have heard all sorts of horror stories (I tend to not believe stories I read on the internet, too much made up stuff). So, the real question is, is it worth spending a lot of money on something when you can buy something reasonable that has an insurance policy and take a gamble that the insurance will pay off should something happen?

Just some thoughts,

Ed Williams
OP | Post 8 made on Thursday November 11, 1999 at 08:46
Dennis
Historic Forum Post
Thanks, Ed. My SP is an Intermatic? purchased at Home Depot. It has both a surge and ground indicator which are continuosly lit. When I first installed it, the ground indicator was not lit, leading me to perform a polarity test. I found this to be reversed which I immedietly corrected. I can't put my hands on the warranty, but I think it may have been as high as $50K. I'm not really interested in the $ value of the protection, just want to be assured that my system won't burn up due to an electrical surge from lightning, etc. I live in a fairly hilly, closely populated area, and my home is the highest on my street. At my electric meter, there is a 1/2 inch (or more) copper rod hammered into the ground. (put there by the cable company years ago) This is grounded to the electrical meter box. In addition, I have a ground wire, maybe 8 or 10 ga, connected to the water supply (city) line and my DBS antenna is grounded to that. Is this sufficient, overdone or incorrect? Any info would help. Will be away for about a week, so thanks in advance. Dennis


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