Good surge protector ?

[herbage11]

I am buying a new monster system soon and want a good surge protector to protect my investment. I see surgemaster has a number of them. How many joules is enough for 1 computer system w/ 420 watt power supply and 19" monitor? Also what brand names do you all like? I know it seems like an elementary question but I want a reliable surge protector at a fair price. I would appriciate any and all advice . thanks

 

[SteelCityFan]

I have a couple Belkin Surgemaster II's.. one with Cable inputs for my Sat etc... and one for my PC without them.

They come with something like a $50,000 protection guarentee (even for lightning strikes) so you can't go wrong. Joule ratings on mine are 1769 but you can get higher if you buy the Surgemaster II Gold Series. (they also increase the replacement $$)

I have this one, and it's brother with the Coax inputs...

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Product_Id=20257


The one on my PC took a hit once as evidenced by the protection light going out.. they call this "Sacrificing itself for the PC". I simply had to call them up, ship them the old one, and they shipped me a replacement for free. It was 2 or 3 years after I bought it, and they had upgraded it with a higher Joule rating so I got the new version.

I bought the one for my DSS/Stereo/TV at buy.com for about $30 I think.

 

[herbage11]

Thanks for the information SteelCity appriciate it.
herb

 

[herbage11]

Another question. If I buy a surge protector online at like Ebay do I need a reciept if I have problems ever? Or would I just need to send in the unit itself? thanks

 

[thorin]

From what I've heard Belkin is ok for Surge protectors. However if you want the best then go with a APC surge protector (or better yet a UPS if you can afford one). Also make sure you protect your modem and network connections (as well as any in house network components like hubs/switches/routers).

Thorin

 

[Comp625]

I have one of these APC surge protectors (they cost about $20 at Kmart or wherever)... is this any good?
7 Outlet APC Surge Protector

Also, I ran out of Outlets on my APC Surge Protector. Is it okay if I plug another surge protector into one of the outlets in the first surge protector?

 

[SteelCityFan]

<< I have one of these APC surge protectors (they cost about $20 at Kmart or wherever)... is this any good?
7 Outlet APC Surge Protector

Also, I ran out of Outlets on my APC Surge Protector. Is it okay if I plug another surge protector into one of the outlets in the first surge protector? >>




It has a 1060 Joule Rating which is what I would consider middle of the road. As long as they stand behind the product and offer a $$ value if your stuff gets fried, then you can't go wrong. I see that your's offers the same $50,000 that the Belkin I have offers. Check with your warrentee to see if lightning strikes are also covered (I know Belkin does).

As far as chaining surge protectors.. I don't think they reccomend it, but I don't know why.

 

[SteelCityFan]

<< Another question. If I buy a surge protector online at like Ebay do I need a reciept if I have problems ever? Or would I just need to send in the unit itself? thanks >>




When mine died, all I had to do was call them up and tell them I what happened... they replaced it no questions asked. I did not need a receipt... afterall, I was mailing them the SurgeProtector back.

Belkin has a PDF of their warrentee on that page I believe and it would probably tell you there.. I would think you would not since the warentee is lifetime, and ownership is proof enough that you bought one.



As far as which is better APC or Belkin...

I don't know enough about them to know for sure. However, in my general experience, the Belkins tend to have a higher Joule rating on their products. I am basing my preference on that, and my good experience with having one replaced. I have not heard anyting negitive about either one.

 

[dullard]

<< If I buy a surge protector online at like Ebay do I need a reciept if I have problems ever? >>


I'd recommend that you don't buy a used surge protector. They have short lifetimes. Most are designed to handle a given number of spikes. Large spikes are rare and what pose the most risk. Small spikes occur frequently - everytime your AC or heater or any other large appliance turns on/off. After a few thousand spikes they loose their effectiveness - and if you buy used you don't know if it has any protection left.

Sure you might be able to convince a good company to replace your equipment, but who wants to go without a computer while they determine if they should reimburse you? A few days/weeks without a computer/stereo/TV will far outweight the few dollars you might save by buying used.

And for those of you with old surge protectors - replace them every couple of years. I think every new computer purchase or major upgrade should include a nice surge protector.

 

[herbage11]

the ones I looked at were new. i would just not have a real store reciept from a store

 

[jrini]

A few years ago I was involved in a study of surge protectors for NASA.

We learned:

Joules is not a good parameter to determine the protection of a surge protection.
A reliabele parameter is clamping voltage. If clamping voltage is not specified -- DO NOT BUY IT.
Commercial devices usually specify a clamping voltage around 400V or 300V. I only buy the 300 V ones.
If two surge protectors both have 300 V clamping voltage the go for the hier Joules.

MORE IMPORTANTLY -- As far as I know all surge protectors being sold for home and office use are MOV devices. They work but they are ablative. That means they WEAR OUT and the WEAR OUT from little surges as well as big surges.
The last time I spoke with a representative from the largest manufacturer of UPSs, there was still no known way to measure the remaining usefulness of a surge protector.

Every year (Christmas Time) I replace a lot of surge protectors.

 

[herbage11]

Wow thanks for that knowledge filled 1st post jrini. That helps a lot.

 

[SCSIRAID]

Im partial to Panamax surge suppressors. www.panamax.com

 

[RanDum72]

I agree with the clamping voltage. Good ones usually start with 330v clamping voltage ( the lower the better). Some brand surge protectors have a lifetime warranty so you might want to go with those. Oncomputers, I usually use UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation), where it protects from over AND under voltages.

 

[Jerboy]

You'd be surprised to know what surge protector really is. A power strip with one or two dime to quarter sized MOV constitutes as surge protector by their definition. It sure comes with insurance, but you'd have to somehow prove that it was indeed damaged by lack of protection of their surge protector.

 

[CorCentral]

Here's a good article worth reading--------- How Surge Protectors Work

 

[MWink]

jrini, RanDum72, and Jerboy are correct. The above posts are not (IMO). Clamping voltage is the most important. APC's clamping voltages are 300, 85, and 40V for the Personal, Professional, and Network grade. I strongly recommend APC. I have never seen an APC fail. Everything I read about them is good and they were rated at the top by Consumer Reports.

DO NOT BUY A BELKIN!!! They are totally worthless. I have seen plenty of them fail to protect the devices plugged into them. They were also rated the WORST by Consumer Reports (every model they tested failed!). I wouldn't use a Belkin if you paid me to.

BTW, just yesterday I was reminded why a good surge protector is needed. I had to go fix a computer for someone because it would not turn on. I determined the PS was bad. When I opened it up I found two huge burn marks. The PCB was burned on the top and bottom. Some of the resistors had turned black. She later remembered it stopped working right after a big thunder storm.

 

[Rhombuss]

I'm using APC UPS units on all my machines. I'd recommend them, but I haven't really seen any of them in action. I haven't had an electrical surge in my house for a good 5 years, and power went out only once or twice in that time period. The APC units took over with battery, and it worked great from there.

 

[MWink]

<< I'm using APC UPS units on all my machines. I'd recommend them, but I haven't really seen any of them in action. I haven't had an electrical surge in my house for a good 5 years, and power went out only once or twice in that time period. The APC units took over with battery, and it worked great from there.
>>



[Sarcasm] WOW! That's impressive! Most places don't go a day without being hit by multiple surges but you managed to go a whole 5 years!!! [/Sarcasm]

Surges happen everyday. You don't notice them because they don't usually damage anything (they just wear away at electronics). Spikes are what can damage electronics in one hit and they are slightly more noticable. The chances of going 5 years without a spike are also slim, as something as simple as a lightbulb burning out can cause one (though a minor one).

Mini RANT time!!! :

Why do people think they are going to "see" a surge protector work (UPS's not included). WTF do they expect it to do??? Stand up and dance around while saying "I just saved your computer from a surge"???

Mini RANT over.

 

[Elledan]

I've found my MGE UPS to be very reliable. Has been working flawlessly for months now, even after the power went out many times.

 

[Dreadogg]

you all should think about having a electrician put a surge protector on your main box also! You never can be too sure!

 

[Rhombuss]

<<

<< I'm using APC UPS units on all my machines. I'd recommend them, but I haven't really seen any of them in action. I haven't had an electrical surge in my house for a good 5 years, and power went out only once or twice in that time period. The APC units took over with battery, and it worked great from there.
>>



[Sarcasm] WOW! That's impressive! Most places don't go a day without being hit by multiple surges but you managed to go a whole 5 years!!! [/Sarcasm]

Surges happen everyday. You don't notice them because they don't usually damage anything (they just wear away at electronics). Spikes are what can damage electronics in one hit and they are slightly more noticable. The chances of going 5 years without a spike are also slim, as something as simple as a lightbulb burning out can cause one (though a minor one).

Mini RANT time!!! :

Why do people think they are going to "see" a surge protector work (UPS's not included). WTF do they expect it to do??? Stand up and dance around while saying "I just saved your computer from a surge"???

Mini RANT over. >>



Umm...I wasn't referring to the typical current variations in the wiring of a house, it's quite obvious the P-P sinusoids will change throughout the course of a day. Only ideal current sources (which don't exist) can emulate perfectly monotonous current signals. I was actually referring to external electrical discharges, IE. lightning surges, overloading a fuse etc. No need for a mini rant

 

[MWink]

The mini rant was not because of you. It was because I remembered a story on the news where someone said they "never see a surge protector do anything."

 

[bjc112]

I have that Gold Surgemaster II, my old surge let a spike through, and lost my Hard drive about 1-2 weeks ago!

Oh well this one covers 75,000 and free data recovery... think it was about 40$$ at staples...

 

[herbage11]

Thanks I was looking at that surgemaster II gold....looks good