When I first purchased my computer, it was suggested to me to purchase a surge protector as well. Not knowing anything about them, much less their importance, I bought a cheap one for around $20. I had it for quite some time and never had a problem with it, or with the equipment that was plugged into it. Then I moved. In the process, I had also purchased a new computer and continued using the same old surge protector.
Everything was fine for awhile and then about two months later, I had a problem with the computer. It wouldn’t start. I took it in to the repair shop and a few hours later, I phoned the technician to see if he had found the problem and he had. One of the first questions he asked was if I had used a surge protector to protect the computer.
I told him I had and then he asked me what kind of protector it was. I told him and then he explained what he thought had happened. The motherboard and other components in the computer had burned up and even though there were several reasons as to why that may of happened, he thought that it was most likely from an electrical surge that my cheap protector failed to protect.
After doing some investigating afterwards, I learned that the area I had moved to, was notorious for having surges in the electrical lines. After learning a bit more about the different types of surge protectors from the technician, I purchased a much more expensive one and haven’t had a problem since then.
‘Surges’ and ‘spikes’ are basically an increase in electrical power. It’s nobody’s fault and it’s a natural phenomenon that’s been happening ever since Thomas Edison first invented electricity. These surges can be caused by a sudden change of use, either by more demand from the public in general, or within your own house by turning on large appliances such as washers, dryers and air conditioners.
Surge protectors do not actually ‘block’ the surge in current as I had originally thought. Without the need to obtain an electrical engineering degree to fully understand the intricacies of a surge protector, let’s just say that an over surge in electrical power (a spike), is redirected into a MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor) to avoid damage to electrical equipment.
MOV’s are used extensively throughout the electronics industry as an ‘over voltage’ protection device. They are usually made up of a thin disc, or wafer and are composed of a material (a metal oxide) that has a known characteristic of breaking down voltages. These devices are classified as either non-linear resistors, or as voltage dependent resistors and are formed from ceramic materials. As the voltage approaches a breakdown point, the MOV begins to conduct current.
This current generates excessive surface heat, which transfers the current to flow to a thermal fuse, which will then open to allow protection to the load. With voltages slightly exceeding the breakdown point, large currents begin to flow, therefore effectively ‘clamping’ ( either conducts or shorts when it is exposed to over voltages) the output voltage. The amount of the clamping voltage is usually selected by the construction of the desired device for a fixed amount of current. In summary, surge protectors work by diverting all of the excessive energy directly into a grounded element.
Surge protectors are designed primarily for indoor use in dry areas. They are not designed for, nor are they suitable for, use in moist conditions and are not intended to work on aquariums. All surge protectors should be placed right before entering the chosen equipment.
If properly calculated, using a Joules rating ( the number set to the ‘clamping’ ability of the chosen equipment to stop a power spike) and installed for their exact use, surge protectors will be at least 99% effective in eliminating power surges. As I found out, you do get what you pay for. My computer repair ended up costing a great deal more than a good quality surge protector would of cost. Most surge protectors sold in retail stores, may only provide minimal protection and are designed to only protect light loads such as printers, computers and other low amperage equipment. So be careful when selecting your protector.
A Few Things To Look For In Selecting Your Surge Protector
The first thing to look for is the Joule’s rating. A Joule is a simple measurement of a unit of energy. It is equivalent to one watt of power that dissipates, or radiates within one second. Many products, unfortunately, may not list the correct Joule ratings. As for an example, they may list a much lower Joule rating than what the equipment actually consumes and if you purchase a lower rated surge protector, it won’t adequately protect your equipment and therefore, you’ve defeated the purpose of protection. Be as careful as you can with this.
You may want to purchase a protector that provides at least 400 Joule’s of rating. However, some unit’s claiming to offer over 1000 Joules of surge resistance, may be a bit inflated only because of the difference of rating systems. As opposed to a local hardware store, an electronic’s store may be a better place to purchase a good quality surge protector from, primarily because of the many different choices and in most cases, receiving unbiased, professional help there.
The second criteria that you’ll want to look for is the availability of line conditioning, which will help to clean up and remove line noise using a toroidal choke cable. This is an electromagnetic device found in most of the commercial grade surge protectors.
You will also receive better quality from a model that utilizes satellite, coaxial and phone jacks into it’s protection. These additional features will allow you to protect all of your electronic devices instead of just the ones that have AC plugs.
Chances are that if you spend more than $60 on a surge protector, you will have all of the necessary ratings and requirements that you will need and anything under $200 will also provide you with the same fundamental MOV components that all of the common surge protector’s possess.
