Almighty surge protector

[Shinova]

I have two questions:


1. Does the protector still do its job if you turn off its switch?

2. Does leaving it on consume any significant amount of power?

[Stark]

What sort are we talking? A proper isolated power supply unit, or one of those multiboards with a 'surge protector' in it?

[Lisa]

Depends what kind of surge.

If we're talking lightning like surge on or off a little switch won't stop that. A little spike would be stopped though.

[Shinova]

What sort are we talking? A proper isolated power supply unit, or one of those multiboards with a 'surge protector' in it?

Huurhm, now I don't know what you're talking about.

Mines is about 20 inches long, 3-3.5 inches wide, has a switch at one end and a row of outlets across the top of the body. It's got two lights on the top, one labelled "ground" and the other labeled "surge."

It's the one you typically use with a computer.

[Spyder]

No to the power drain, I'd be impressed if it was 20mA.

Oh and like Stark says, get a real surge protector. They're worth the extra dollars just for the noise filtration alone, your hard disks will thank you for it.

[Stark]

Oh. If it's anything like the ones I've used here, it's not very useful against serious surges, since it takes a small amount of time to trigger the 'protection' and your equipment may already be toast.

If you want real protection, get a 'power conditioner' or whatever Americans call it. I use an old UPS as a surge protector, for instance, and I get about an hour of battery backup at the same time.

[phongn]

Oh and like Stark says, get a real surge protector. They're worth the extra dollars just for the noise filtration alone, your hard disks will thank you for it.

Eh, the PSU in the computer should more than compensate - not like the DC coming out of it will be noisy.

f you want real protection, get a 'power conditioner' or whatever Americans call it. I use an old UPS as a surge protector, for instance, and I get about an hour of battery backup at the same time.

I don't really think a conditioner is worth it. The best bet would be a "whole house" surge protector installed on the incoming mains power. Those power strips will protect but their MOVs burn out over time and most surge protectors have a nasty habit of not telling you when their MOVs are gone.

[Stark]

*shrugs* I've seen plenty of hardware owned by noisy AC. A decent UPS or whatever can protect whole pile of equipment just fine for bugger-all money. Obviously street-level stuff is always best, but you can't buy that at Dick Smith.

[phongn]

*shrugs* I've seen plenty of hardware owned by noisy AC. A decent UPS or whatever can protect whole pile of equipment just fine for bugger-all money. Obviously street-level stuff is always best, but you can't buy that at Dick Smith.

Most of the hardware stores in the US will sell "whole house" surge protection (though you need an electrician to install it) and many power companies will also rent one out. And are you sure the problem was noisy AC or was it something else?

[Stark]

'Alternating current' and not 'direct current'. I figured the difference in our experiences were due to the different power in use in our respective countries.

I wish hardware stores HERE sold stuff like that. You have to harrass the carrier and get them to do it for you here.

[phongn]

'Alternating current' and not 'direct current'. I figured the difference in our experiences were due to the different power in use in our respective countries.

I know you're talking about AC - and Florida power is pretty nasty stuff with all of the lightning strikes and utility-pole wiring.

I wish hardware stores HERE sold stuff like that. You have to harrass the carrier and get them to do it for you here.

Hah. I can go to my power company's website and sign up for the rental unit right now if I wanted to.

[Stark]

Sorry, I thought you thought I had noisy-power air conditioning or something.

At least we can all agree those powerpoint surge protectors aren't very useful.

[aerius]

1. Does the protector still do its job if you turn off its switch?

2. Does leaving it on consume any significant amount of power?

Yes, and no.

However consumer level surge protectors aren't exactly worth much, I wouldn't plug anything more valuable than a clock radio into one.

If you really want to be safe, get a proper power conditioner from ONEAC or someone like them, hospitals use them to protect life support equipment from bad power, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for your valuable electronics. They pop up on ebay quite frequently, just make sure the wattage ratings are enough to power your gear.

[Vyraeth]

However consumer level surge protectors aren't exactly worth much, I wouldn't plug anything more valuable than a clock radio into one.

Why not? Do you mean in terms of surge protection?

I have a "consumer level" surge protector that costs about 70 bucks (I got it for 50) and has a $5,000,000 USD equipment warranty, with the unit itself having a lifetime warranty.

Link: http://www.panamax-sales.com/m8t-ex.htm

Why isn't this worth much? And I ask you genuinely, since I was recently researching surge protectors and UPS's and decided on that one. Unfortunately, I found this thread after that, but I still think I made a good purchase.