surge protectors?

[notanotheracct]

i wanna buy a few and i'm not sure if these are good enough. they have support for up to 2,655 joules, and i've seen it mentioned online that 1 joule = 1 watt, so would i just add up the watts used per item connected to it or is it more complicated?

and of course, if anyone knows if this is garbage or about better surge protectors for the price, i'm listening

 

[Jeff7]

I think the joule rating is the amount of power the thing can absorb.

 

[eXx08]

I think you will be ok with that. Although I know nothing about surge protectors.

 

[Googer]

You cannot have more than 1,875 watts on any given 15AMP circuit breaker. Also 1,875watts is the most that a standard outlet can handle.

 

[Mark R]

A joule is an amount of energy, while a Watt is the rate of energy consumption. 1 Watt for 1 second means 1 Joule. 1 Watt for 2 seconds means 2 Joules.

A surge is usually a single pulse of energy, so is measured in Joules.

2500 Joules is a pretty good surge rating - This should easily absorb any surge from fridges, air conditioners and fluorescent lighting. It should also offer good protection against distant lighting.

Nothing will protect against very close or direct lightning strikes.

 

[Jeff7]

Nothing will protect against very close or direct lightning strikes.

Faraday Cage around your house.

 

[pkme2]

Since my area has a lot of brownouts from time to time, it was necessary to hookup these protections for my systems
My Tripplite line conditioner on my new rig. http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=2010
An older EPD Line Star 500VA line conditioner on my other system.

You can't be too safe. I got an APC 650 BackUPS on my old computer system and a Cyberpower 1250AVR on my new rig.
http://www.shopping.com/xPC-APC_Back_UPS_Pro_650VA_BP650S
http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Cyberpower_OfficePower_1250AVR_CPS1250AVR

You have a choice to protect your investment or not. My local electrical provider says they cover any damages up to the home but anything that happens inside is the tenants responsibility. My renter found out the hard way when his computer system got fried. Some protection is better than none.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Nothing will protect against very close or direct lightning strikes.

Faraday Cage around your house.

True, but if lightning strikes the light pole outside of your house then a Faraday cage will not save you.

This works well, maybe your local power company has something similar. ZAP Caps get installed between your power meter and the home breaker box, lightning gets stoped dead in it's tracks.

 

[Zepper]

Don't buy Belkin power products if you care for your gear. Belkin exists only to help the big-box stores make a higher profit margin - huge markups w/ cheap parts inside make for great add-on sales. $2. cables for $20., etc. Look at APC, Tripplite and several other good brands. I have a Cyber Power surge protector that seems to work OK.
. I wish it was easy to disassemble as I'll need to toss it and get another soon. Maybe I'll make my own. That way I can replace the degradable parts (mainly the MOVs) as needed w/o having to toss the rest of it out.

.bh.

Jeff7,
. doesn't need to be around the whole house, just the confuser room (unless you care about your other stuff too)... .bh.

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Don't buy Belkin power products if you care for your gear. Belkin exists only to help the big-box stores make a higher profit margin - huge markups w/ cheap parts inside make for great add-on sales. $2. cables for $20., etc. Look at APC, Tripplite and several other good brands. I have a Cyber Power surge protector that seems to work OK.
. I wish it was easy to disassemble as I'll need to toss it and get another soon. Maybe I'll make my own. That way I can replace the degradable parts (mainly the MOVs) as needed w/o having to toss the rest of it out.

.bh.

Jeff7,
. doesn't need to be around the whole house, just the confuser room (unless you care about your other stuff too)... .bh.

He is 100% correct about Belkin surge protectors. I took one apart and determined that even when the surge protection (MOVs) fails the surge protector won't cut power to the connected equipment, only the MOVs. If you do use one you better make sure the "protection working" LED never goes out because it's the only indicator the MOVs have failed.

 

[McPudd]

I use these:
http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=2809
5 of the 10 outlets are nicley spaced for power bricks.
They have others ... see:
http://www.tripplite.com/products/suppressors/protectit.cfm#10

Happy trailz,

 

[Draco]

Tripp Lite's "ISOBAR" is far away the best surge suppressor out there imho...a bit costly, but they show their value in construction

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=104

 

[Zepper]

Hey Draco,

. Night of the Living Thread? This one's been in the ground for a couple of months - starting to smell pretty ripe.

Let sleeping logs lie...

.bh.

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: Draco
Tripp Lite's "ISOBAR" is far away the best surge suppressor out there imho...a bit costly, but they show their value in construction

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=104

While they are far better than most, I would not say they are the best. Of all the surge protectors I've taken apart (including 2 Isobars) APC's Professional and Network/Performance line of Surge Arrests look the best INSIDE (I admit Tripp Lite's look better on the outside with their metal case). Unfortunately APC doesn't seem to be making these lines anymore. If you look around you can find plenty of places that still sell them.