[ChrisB17]

I need to know the BEST possible power protection I can buy at newegg. I live in a area that is full of lighting and thunder storms almost daily. What is the best protection I can get from newegg?

 

[Conley]

Just get a 5 dollar surge protector and call it a day. You're ensured for up to $100,000 with most of those.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisB17 I need to know the BEST possible power protection I can buy at newegg. I live in a area that is full of lighting and thunder storms almost daily. What is the best protection I can get from newegg?

I wouldn't rely just on Newegg, however, a brand to start with is Tripp-Lite. And unfortunately, nothing affordable can truly protect from lightning. When I was looking into the same thing, I learned that even with the BEST surge suppressor, it's still recommended to unplug EVERYTHING, including the surge suppressor. Lightning is just too much for anything.

However, some of Tripp-Lite's better surge suppressors such as the TLP810NET would protect way better than some generic one. And by that, I mean WAY better. But the main goal of these units is to keep the little surges from getting through that happen all day and every day. They help to keep the power nice and steady.

 

[MNiceGuy]

I lost a few hundred bucks worth of stuff out of one of my old systems because of a lightning storm that rolled through while I was out of town one night. I was using a cheap Wal-Mart surge protector.

What about a UPS? Forgive my noob-ness but aren't there ones that run off of a constantly charging battery supply so you're never really 'direct connected' to the wall outlet?

 

[Bigshades92]

For that environment, a UPS might be good too.

In my experience, i've never had an actual surge go through, but the sudden outage can F up your HDD if you're writing to it while it goes out.

Maybe a Surge/UPS combo would do. Cheers!

 

[Dylan]

I live in a area with many lightning strikes as well. Nothing beats an APC UPS.

Edit: This is the system I use on gaming PC's

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16842101125

 

[Lombax]

Why not just ground your entire house?

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNiceGuy I lost a few hundred bucks worth of stuff out of one of my old systems because of a lightning storm that rolled through while I was out of town one night. I was using a cheap Wal-Mart surge protector. What about a UPS? Forgive my noob-ness but aren't there ones that run off of a constantly charging battery supply so you're never really 'direct connected' to the wall outlet?

Even the best surge suppressors can't guarantee protection from lightning, but they can certainly help - especially if you have no easy access to the plug so that you can unplug it before the storm arrives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigshades92 For that environment, a UPS might be good too. In my experience, i've never had an actual surge go through, but the sudden outage can F up your HDD if you're writing to it while it goes out. Maybe a Surge/UPS combo would do. Cheers!

Surges are actually occurring all the time. Most come straight from the power company. Other surges come from when the refrigerator turns on or off, or when other things are turned on or off. Or when the garage door opener is activated. Or especially when the air conditioner comes on. They cause ripples, or surges, and over time, this can wreak havoc on our sensitive electronics. So, it's important to have a good surge suppressor to help smooth out these surges so that our stuff isn't affected - or at least enough to be harmful.

But when a computer is unprotected, it's only a matter of time.

The high-end power supplies are actually somewhat decent at being surge suppressors, but they're nowhere near as good as a good surge suppressor.

I learned all this and more when I started shopping for a surge suppressor, and that's why I ended up with Tripp-Lite's TLP810NET.

 

[holyc0w]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNiceGuy What about a UPS? Forgive my noob-ness but aren't there ones that run off of a constantly charging battery supply so you're never really 'direct connected' to the wall outlet?

That would probably be the best option. The next would be a regular version. I think UPS's also have surge protection so you can't double them with a surge protector.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by holyc0w That would probably be the best option. The next would be a regular version. I think UPS's also have surge protection so you can't double them with a surge protector.

Most UPSs do indeed have surge suppression. But it wouldn't be harmful to plug them into a high-end surge suppressor.

 

[holyc0w]

Can you do that? I don't think it's recommended. I read a story somewhere, possibly here, where someone had two and their computer still fried.

The type of the UPS that always goes off the battery is called Line-Interactive.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by holyc0w Can you do that? I don't think it's recommended. I read a story somewhere, possibly here, where someone had two and their computer still fried. The type of the UPS that always goes off the battery is called Line-Interactive.

Of course it would still fry if it was due to lightning. It's recommended to unplug everything no matter what kind of protection you have as that protection isn't to protect against lightning strikes!

 

[Dylan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables Of course it would still fry if it was due to lightning. It's recommended to unplug everything no matter what kind of protection you have as that protection isn't to protect against lightning strikes!

Thats what the warranty/protection plan is for.

 

[ChrisB17]

Damn so no matter what it looks like I will have to unplug anyways, Damn that sux.

How do I ground my whole house? I live in a town home.

Also should I get a Voltage regulator or Surge suppressor?

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisB17 Damn so no matter what it looks like I will have to unplug anyways, Damn that sux. How do I ground my whole house? I live in a town home. Also should I get a Voltage regulator or Surge suppressor?

Hey, you could always get both.

But, what's your budget?

But anyway, the town home is probably already properly grounded.

 

[holyc0w]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables Of course it would still fry if it was due to lightning. It's recommended to unplug everything no matter what kind of protection you have as that protection isn't to protect against lightning strikes!

I never unplug my computer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dylan Thats what the warranty/protection plan is for.

It's probably pretty difficult to get any of the companies to pay out.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by holyc0w I never unplug my computer.

Well, it's your computer. But back in the day, my brother left his computer plugged in during a thunderstorm. It was in the days when 56k modems were the hottest thing. I tried to tell him that he should unplug everything, but he wasn't worried. But when he tried to turn it on the next day, it wouldn't come on at all. Nothing worked. The entire thing was useless. So we opened it up and discovered that the modem was a little fried. It didn't look serious, but it was bad enough that it screwed the entire computer up. It turns out that lightning had struck a telephone line somewhere a few miles away. So that sent a huge surge or something through the telephone line into his modem, and through is turned-off system thereby killing it.

So now when a thunderstorm is about to hit, I unplug the cable from the cable modem, and I unplug the surge suppressor from the wall. That way everything is unplugged, and there's no risk of having ANY of my stuff damaged from a little bit of lightning. After seeing what happened to my brother's computer, there's no way I'm going to take any chances.

I actually recently read a thread that I can't find (I didn't reply to it) where a thunderstorm knocked the power out, and when it came back on, he couldn't turn his computer on. I didn't follow the thread for very long, but it sounded like he lost his computer.

So that makes me extra glad that I have a really good surge suppressor. I mean, I know that if I'm not around to unplug my computer, then the chances of my computer coming back on are better than they would be if I had no protection at all. So, I feel that a good surge suppressor is just a part of a computer system. It's probably almost as important as the power supply, and the power supply is the most important part.

 

[Bigshades92]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables Surges are actually occurring all the time. Most come straight from the power company. Other surges come from when the refrigerator turns on or off, or when other things are turned on or off. Or when the garage door opener is activated. Or especially when the air conditioner comes on. They cause ripples, or surges, and over time, this can wreak havoc on our sensitive electronics. So, it's important to have a good surge suppressor to help smooth out these surges so that our stuff isn't affected - or at least enough to be harmful.

There's a difference between fluctuations (Ex, other loads bieng turned on/off), and a lightning Surge.

It is the job of the PSU to turn the rough AC voltage into the constant DC voltages for the PC. The PSU can handle variations. If you look on the input specifications, it says for example "AC input 100-130VAC 50-65Hz". All it does is turn a rough AC source into a regulated DC output.

If slight variations/Fluctuations on the AC line actually damage the PC's internals, then the PSU is not doing its job. A good PSU will regulate itself well enough to hold its voltages within tight tolerance. thats why we often buy PSU's that are higher in wattage rating than we really need.

But a SURGE however (Surge being a relatively large and significant change in voltage, or even the change of the AC to DC current) cannot be regulated or filtered out of the PSU before reaching the sensitive components. And Thats why a surge protector is needed.

The UPS's job is then to keep the PC running until it can be properly shut down, as a Significant surge will more than likely trip the breakers/cut off power.

So, Get a high quality surge protector, connect a UPS to it, then your PC. It's worked for me. Cheers!

 

[Dylan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables Well, it's your computer. But back in the day, my brother left his computer plugged in during a thunderstorm. It was in the days when 56k modems were the hottest thing. I tried to tell him that he should unplug everything, but he wasn't worried. But when he tried to turn it on the next day, it wouldn't come on at all. Nothing worked. The entire thing was useless. So we opened it up and discovered that the modem was a little fried. It didn't look serious, but it was bad enough that it screwed the entire computer up. It turns out that lightning had struck a telephone line somewhere a few miles away. So that sent a huge surge or something through the telephone line into his modem, and through is turned-off system thereby killing it. So now when a thunderstorm is about to hit, I unplug the cable from the cable modem, and I unplug the surge suppressor from the wall. That way everything is unplugged, and there's no risk of having ANY of my stuff damaged from a little bit of lightning. After seeing what happened to my brother's computer, there's no way I'm going to take any chances. I actually recently read a thread that I can't find (I didn't reply to it) where a thunderstorm knocked the power out, and when it came back on, he couldn't turn his computer on. I didn't follow the thread for very long, but it sounded like he lost his computer. So that makes me extra glad that I have a really good surge suppressor. I mean, I know that if I'm not around to unplug my computer, then the chances of my computer coming back on are better than they would be if I had no protection at all. So, I feel that a good surge suppressor is just a part of a computer system. It's probably almost as important as the power supply, and the power supply is the most important part.

I never unplug anything, but everything is behind APC UPS' because during rain, even light rain, my power likes to flicker on and off several times in a row, which kills electronics. Had lighting hit a tv once. APC replaced it and the UPS it went through.

 

[shinji2k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables Even the best surge suppressors can't guarantee protection from lightning, but they can certainly help - especially if you have no easy access to the plug so that you can unplug it before the storm arrives. Surges are actually occurring all the time. Most come straight from the power company. Other surges come from when the refrigerator turns on or off, or when other things are turned on or off. Or when the garage door opener is activated. Or especially when the air conditioner comes on. They cause ripples, or surges, and over time, this can wreak havoc on our sensitive electronics. So, it's important to have a good surge suppressor to help smooth out these surges so that our stuff isn't affected - or at least enough to be harmful. But when a computer is unprotected, it's only a matter of time. The high-end power supplies are actually somewhat decent at being surge suppressors, but they're nowhere near as good as a good surge suppressor. I learned all this and more when I started shopping for a surge suppressor, and that's why I ended up with Tripp-Lite's TLP810NET.

What is commonly referred to as a surge protector does nothing for small fluctuations in voltage and few actually do anything to suppress EMI. You either need a line-conditioner or at minimum a line interactive UPS with AVR. You also need to be careful of which surge protector you buy. ALL of the cheap models are basically power strips with little to no filtering or surge protection. I haven't shopped for one lately but you usually have to spend at least $30 to get one that has some decent components.

Quote:

Originally Posted by holyc0w Can you do that? I don't think it's recommended. I read a story somewhere, possibly here, where someone had two and their computer still fried. The type of the UPS that always goes off the battery is called Line-Interactive.

That would be an online UPS. Line-interactive has some basic filtering/surge protection and will switch to using the battery when the voltage drops below what it can correct with AVR (automatic voltage regulation). An online UPS is one that always runs off the battery. The system keeps the battery charged and in case of a power outage there will be no delay in the switch to battery since it is already running off the battery.

If there is a lightning strike and the house grounding does no do it's job, there is little you can do to protect anything connected by wires in your house. We are talking about 100's of millions of volts here. There's nothing we can buy to truly isolate that while still having the computer plugged in and turn on. There's nothing wrong with buying a surge protector, there are plenty of other sources of surges (like a shorting transformer) but don't expect to be protected from lightning even with an expensive one.