# Surge protector



## ProCast12's (Jan 22, 2011)

Hey I'm looking for a surge protector.. I have a avr,crown xls 1500, Xbox, blu ray, and direct tv.. Not looking to spend huge amount but Isis here the more jewels the better quality to your components as far as clean power


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

These are a great deal for the money. Accessories4less
http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...ower-Manager-1000-8-Outlet-2160-Joules/1.html


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## ProCast12's (Jan 22, 2011)

Thanks tony.. I think I want to go with a strip to hide it in my false wall of my ht center... But the more jewels the better right?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Yes and no, to be truthful if you get hit by lightning no power strip is going to survive it but it could stop most surges. Stay away for pricy ones like monster as you pay for a name not nessisaraly quality. Triplite is another good brand that's not bloated over priced.
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-HT...=UTF8&qid=1387077518&sr=8-2&keywords=Triplite


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## dougc (Dec 19, 2009)

I have the larger version of the one Tony mentioned. It's a pretty cool setup with a 12v trigger and plenty of outlets for everything.


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

the best option, IMO, is having a whole house surge protector installed at the box. it's much more beneficial than spending money on multiple strips


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

I have several of these scattered around the house:

http://www.amazon.com/BE112230-08-1...otector+with+telephone+and+coaxial+protection

They combine protection along with 12 outlets. Pretty basic, but they do add a sense of safety to my gear.

BTW, the ratings are in "joules" not "jewels." "Joules" is a measure of energy. However, I am not aware of any standards that govern how these things are rated, so one company's rating may not be directly comparable to another's. However, if you stay with a name brand you should be OK.

Amazon occasionally runs Monster component style power centers/surge protectors on Lightning Deal with significant discounts. I never have purchased one, but they should also do a nice job, but they are still expensive even on special discount.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Mike Edwards said:


> the best option, IMO, is having a whole house surge protector installed at the box. it's much more beneficial than spending money on multiple strips


The only issue with whole house protection is there is no protection from spikes that come in through the phone, cable or sat lines. Where as the above mentioned units also give protection against those.


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

It is a bit more but I have this Belkin. It has plenty of outlets that can be time delayed and it is a great looking unit with the front display showing voltage and amps being used. It goes on sale and sometimes can be had for $125 which is what I paid for it. Check in daily because the price changes freqeuntly. 
http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=42X...forum.com/search.php?searchid=1903306&xtz=300


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## dougc (Dec 19, 2009)

I would go for the Belkin mentioned above if I could buy again - and if it was $125. I like the option of switching which outlets are time-delay and switched. Cool features.


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## RBTO (Jan 27, 2010)

If you have a Directv DVR, it would be beneficial to you to put it on a UPS in addition to a surge suppressor (many UPSs have multiple outlets and surge suppression). The UPS will help if you have short power interruptions and make life for the hard drive in the DVR a lot easier. Additionally, the DVR won't have to reboot every time you get a power interruption.


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## Glen B (Jun 11, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> The only issue with whole house protection is there is no protection from spikes that come in through the phone, cable or sat lines. Where as the above mentioned units also give protection against those.


Seconded. Plus, there is no protection from internally generated voltage spikes (e.g., back EMF from inductive devices). Whole house protection should be supplemented with point-of-use surge suppressors to protect against these other sources.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

I will second the Tripp-lite recommendation, they were one of the originals and still one of the best


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## ProCast12's (Jan 22, 2011)

Thanks for the input guys.. Much appreciated


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## 100pr00f (Dec 16, 2013)

I heard horror story's for Belkin protectors. They are not honoring there insurance on your equipment if it go's up while using there surge protectors. I read a lot of reviews with this....


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

100pr00f said:


> I heard horror story's for Belkin protectors. They are not honoring there insurance on your equipment if it go's up while using there surge protectors. I read a lot of reviews with this....


MOST surge protectors don't honor their claims. there are so many loopholes in those warranties to be a joke. I don't honestly recommend most regular surge protectors that use MOV as their point of protection. 

these are MUCH better choices

http://www.surgex.com/

http://www.brickwall.com/

or

http://www.zerosurge.com/


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## cavchameleon (Jan 7, 2008)

I also agree that you should first use a whole house surge at the AC entrance (and also protect your cable coming in - they are usually set up as such by their prospective service companies, but you can add more).

After that, I do like point of source protection. The ones mentioned above are great. Accessories4less has the larger version of the one above:

http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...wer-Manager-2000-12-Outlet-6480-Joules/1.html

The Belkin PF60 is also available from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-PureAV...F8&qid=1387635708&sr=8-1&keywords=belkin+pf60

The price does drop quite a bit at times. I like the Belkin due to being able to control the turn-on times of each bank of outlets so that all the equipment does not come on all a once. To me, this is one of the best benefits.

As for conditioners making audio sound better and video look better ... well, I don't believe in that part as all of you equipment has regulated internal power. If you do have power problems, you need to look at your actual source of the issue (usually grounding issues of your supplied power, etc.).


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## 100pr00f (Dec 16, 2013)

Mike Edwards said:


> MOST surge protectors don't honor their claims. there are so many loopholes in those warranties to be a joke. I don't honestly recommend most regular surge protectors that use MOV as their point of protection.
> 
> these are MUCH better choices
> 
> ...


perhaps you are correct...just never heard others talk about this on other brands.

Im looking at Panamax MR4300. I would like to make room by taking the big bulky protector of the floor and place it on my tv stand


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

100pr00f said:


> perhaps you are correct...just never heard others talk about this on other brands.
> 
> Im looking at Panamax MR4300. I would like to make room by taking the big bulky protector of the floor and place it on my tv stand


These type of protectors are the ones by electricians. NASA even uses them. Most surge protectors are ticking time bombs using mov tech as their point of protection which can degrade over time leaving u completely vulnerable. The regular ones sold by most stores are better than nothing but I wouldn't trust anything expensive on them


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## ewardjr69 (Feb 25, 2013)

I have the Panamax 5102 and although it's probably pricier that what you spend it's a great unit. I have a family member that works for best buy and I got a good deal. I have my tv and direct tv box hooked up to the battery back up. It's cool not to have to wait ten minutes for everything to reboot and know that my DVR hard drive is not being jarred every time power is interrupted.


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## wd3 (Feb 23, 2014)

A couple things to keep in mind with Surge protectors. Firstly, as someone mentioned earlier, nothing can protect you from a direct lightening strike. Having said that nearby strikes can cause voltage spikes, and if you have manufacturing facilities nearby can also cause spikes too. At present I don't use any whole house protection, but I do use various surge protection devices for my game room, security system, computers, AV room, and etc. Also when evaluating surge protectors, some will advertise a joule rating. That can be misleading at times because they might just put a bunch of MOVs in parallel for a higher advertised rating. Also, keep in mind that most basic surge protectors are sacrificial devices. In other words, they can only take so many hits before they fail. When one of these fails, it is possible that they might leak high voltage to the connected device. Having said that these kinds of surge protectors are quite affective. I live in central Indiana which has more lightening strikes in the country than almost anywhere else other than perhaps Florida. So, there is a real danger for my equipment unlike some other places around the US. I have only lost one piece of gear to a surge with a basic surge suppressor. I have been using Tripp Lite as someone else recommended, and I have had their LEDs go out after a surge (electrical storm) stating that they are no longer protecting the downstream device. So, you will need to replace them with some kind of regularity. Someone also mentioned Panamax, and they are a good product as well. I have used them in the past. Although, I have been moving to their sister brand Furman Sound. Whether it is them or another manufacturer probably doesn't make any difference as long as they make a good product, but what I like about these kinds of products is that they are not sacrificial. They can take repeated 6000V hits. Anything over 6000V starts to arc through the insulation. Also, I don't use any kind of voltage regulation at this time. My incoming voltage and frequency are pretty stable. There are companies that provide that capability, but at present I just use a non-sacrificial device for my more expensive equipment (game room, AV room, and computers) to provide surge protection (actually reduces voltage to a usable voltage) and disconnects the equipment when the incoming voltage is sagging or too hot. I would probably caution you on some of the technologies that some companies sell that utilize “balanced power.” In fact, I believe the National Electrical Code does not allow residential outlets to have balanced power. That would mean that the neutral was -60V and the hot +60V AC (RMS of course). Some equipment is not always compatible with this arrangement and can cause a safety issue because neutral is no longer tied to ground. There are a variety of “high end” power conditioners that use this. It is probably true that this method is good at delivering clean power, but I don't believe that takes care of the downsides of equipment compatibility and safety. You might also find that many amps, receivers, and subwoofers recommend not using a surge suppressor. This is because they can sometimes constrain electricity flow starving your high amp devices of the power when they need it. So, it would be recommended to go with a device that states that it supports high current output when using it for your amp, receiver, and/or subwoofer. Some devices even include capacitors to provide additional current for your high amp devices. Also, you might want to protect your incoming lines such as cable, TV antenna, and etc. Most of these technologies at this time seem to prevent the usage of non-sacrificial devices, so I use gas discharge tubes to redirect high voltages on various lines before they come into my house. I usually have to replace them every 7 years or so. Then I use surge suppressor connectors for the incoming line after it is in my house. Although, some surge suppressor line protections can cause problems. For instance, my cable modem was getting errors when running through the coax connectors on my Tripp Lite, so I connected it directly to the cable modem. Hope this helps,


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

It is actually rather unlikely that an MOV will fail partially and leak voltage through to the protected device. When they fail it is almost always a dead short and if they become leaky it is to the other side of the device. When they break down they are just doing more of what they do to protect, dumping current from one side to the other. When they short the breaker will open and that is about it. Sometimes they burn up in a severe hit, but I have never seen one cause any damage other than to itself.


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

lcaillo said:


> It is actually rather unlikely that an MOV will fail partially and leak voltage through to the protected device. When they fail it is almost always a dead short and if they become leaky it is to the other side of the device. When they break down they are just doing more of what they do to protect, dumping current from one side to the other. When they short the breaker will open and that is about it. Sometimes they burn up in a severe hit, but I have never seen one cause any damage other than to itself.


yeah, coming from an electrical background I agree. the real downside to MOV based ones are more that they're "sacrificial" than anything.. and SOMETIMES don't show that they're compromised even if the green light is still on. 

I'm getting a few more Tripp Lite MOV based ones for my tv's and gaming systems, but I'm also adding a whole house surge protector (which aren't MOV based) at the breaker box as uber coverage this year.


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## wd3 (Feb 23, 2014)

Perhaps I had a defective MOV based power strip, but how did I lose an AV receiver once after a thunderstorm? So, how would that happen if something didn't leak through during the failure?


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Was it connected to any other equipment that had an external line into the system? Surges often come in over signal lines like cable and sat, or networks.


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## wd3 (Feb 23, 2014)

All equipment was connected to that one MOV based power strip. After the storm, the protection light went out and the AV receiver did not function. All other equipment seemed to be operational. Also, no other external line connections were connected sans one. I have a TV antenna that runs though a gas discharge tube before coming into the house proper. The TV antenna and gas discharge tube were grounded per National Electrical Code guidelines using 6awg solid wire (over spec). In addition, the TV antenna is not fully exposed to the outside elements anyway due to the fact that it is mounted in my attic over the garage. In addition, the TV antenna also ran though that same power strip for additional protection (i.e. TV antenna -> gas discharge tube -> power strip -> TV). All network connections run through a wireless bridge, so all equipment is plugged into it using Cat 5/6 cables. The wireless bridge then obviously provides no line connection to the rest of the house, and it was connected to the same MOV based power strip for power. After that failure, I upgraded my AV receiver and moved to another type of protection device. It is still based on MOVs, but it also uses what I believe is called an avalanche diode. I have never had a problem since with either the connected equipment or power appliance. At this time, I'm in the process of upgrading my home theater setup. With the large investment in money and due to living in a thunderstorm prone area, I am planning to upgrade my power distribution system again to my AV rack and TV stand. I will be using two Series Multi-Stage Protection (SMP) devices. One will be handling all of equipment in the AV rack, and the other will be handling my TV and subwoofer. No extension cords will be used, and both SMP devices will be plugged into the same wall outlet to prevent any ground loop issues. For the TV antenna, I'm still using a gas discharge tube, and it will also run though the same SMP device that supports the TV. Hopefully, this is a good way of handling my power protection needs. Also, the SMP devices do not provide balanced power. Although, they do have a capacitor to assist with high current demands. I went with SMP based technology due to their non-sacrificial nature. In addition, a lot of SMP manufactures describe another problem with MOV based technologies which is ground contamination. In other words, they would state that a surge could be redirected to ground which could travel through your chassis or signal grounds potentially causing issues with your sensitive gear plugged into the same power strip or AC circuit. I'm not entirely sure if this is marketing hype or a real concern. Nonetheless, I do believe a lot of MOV based protection devices do shunt surges to both the neutral and/or ground. Anyway, I do believe MOV based technology is quite effective, and certainly the most cost effective of any protection technology. I still use this technology for various things (cable modem, security system, and my wife's 20 year old digital piano), but I don't believe any technology is 100% bullet proof. Some failures can occur due to manufacturing errors/variability and/or design errors (for instance not using the correct components in the design perhaps to save cost).


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## swatkins (Nov 26, 2013)

I recently built my home and installed a whole house protector on the main service entrance.. Most people think about their AV equipment and computers but forget about the other electronics in their home... 

My refrigerator, range, washing machine, dishwasher, dryer, microwave, central A/C and central heating all have sensitive electronics and can't be plugged into a surge protector. The Whole House Protector takes care of all the major appliances and I further protect the AV equipment with battery backup / surge protection. The whole house protector is a "one shot" item that has to be replaced after it receives a surge but it not very expensive.

I also have my projector plugged into a large battery backup so that the bulb can continue cooling down if the power were to go off...


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## wd3 (Feb 23, 2014)

I haven't really considered a whole house solution as of yet, but I can say that even if I live in a thunderstorm prone area (Central Indiana). My central air system is over 10 years now without any problems, and I just got a new refrigerator. The old one was 20 years old. I'm kind of wondering if major appliances already include some kind of surge protection in their products. For instance, my central air system just came off of a 10 year warranty. If you are going to provide a warranty that long, you probably don't want it to blow up right away. Just a thought, I'm not sure if any major appliance already designs that in or not. But you are right, if you consider how much money you have in your stove, fridge, dryer, washer, fridge, microwave, and heating/AC system, that's a lot of money...


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## swatkins (Nov 26, 2013)

wd3 said:


> I haven't really considered a whole house solution as of yet, but I can say that even if I live in a thunderstorm prone area (Central Indiana). My central air system is over 10 years now without any problems, and I just got a new refrigerator. The old one was 20 years old. I'm kind of wondering if major appliances already include some kind of surge protection in their products. For instance, my central air system just came off of a 10 year warranty. If you are going to provide a warranty that long, you probably don't want it to blow up right away. Just a thought, I'm not sure if any major appliance already designs that in or not. But you are right, if you consider how much money you have in your stove, fridge, dryer, washer, fridge, microwave, and heating/AC system, that's a lot of money...


The one I used was mounted to the side of the service panel and can be connected either by simply using a breaker or attached directly to the main lines entering the box.. As I was wiring the box new and space was tight, I elected to just attach it to the main Lugs. The unit is weather proof and has a bright green indicator light that signals everything is ok and protected. If it receives a surge the light turns red. Here is a link to a similar one at Home Depot It's cheap protection at 130 dollars.. 

As to the protection built into appliances and warranties... I'm sure there is wording in there that states the warranty is void in cases of power surges or excessive voltage... After all thats what your home insurance is for


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