Surge Protector

[Mr. McMac]

Speaking of APC UPS's. A few years ago I smelled something burning. It turns out my APC Smartups 700's batteries over heated due to a bad charging circuit. Luckily I was home when this happened. Too Bad, I really loved this unit Check out the batteries..

 

[DesignerOnMac]

so APC and Belkin, got it.

thanks everyone for the input. : )

Remember that the cheaper $18 or less surge protectors actually give you almost no protection. Depending on what your plugging into the surge protector in terms of replacement, spend more on the protector.

A good way to see how much protection you get is to read the front or the back of the box or fact sheet on the back. See what the protection is, the rating of the protection, and for how long.

Also remember that over time, the protection decreases, especially if you have a lot of power outages.

All brands mentioned are good also check out PowerMax. I have used these for years.

 

[Dark Void]

thanks for the suggestions everyone.

 

[Dark Void]

I have a question, actually.

My current surge protector has three lights on it: a light labelled "Surge," a light labeled "Ground," and a light on the switch itself.

The light on the switch is flickering. Would that simply mean that the light is just dying on the switch? Does it matter at all? The other lights are lit up solidly.

 

[westom]

My current surge protector has three lights on it: a light labelled "Surge," a light labeled "Ground," and a light on the switch itself.

The ground light can only report on safety ground. Surge protection is about earth ground. Nothing can detect earth ground from a wall receptacle. If the protector manufacturer does not discuss that, then many will assume all grounds are same.

The light can only report a safety ground failure. It cannot even report the safety ground is good or sufficient.

Light on the switch is a power light. Same device also found in lighted wall switches. As a neon bulb ages (as the neon gas inside becomes contaminated), that bulb flickers.

What does the third light report? Well, the light can report a type of failure that must never happen. If that failure occurs, the protector was grossly undersized. Should not have been purchased. If the MOVs had not disconnected fast enough, then a potential house fire existed. Effective protection means grossly undersized protectors should never exist. But a grossly undersized protector gets the most naive to recommend that protector. Grossly undersizing means many will recommend that protector.

And finally, a picture of all MOVs removed from a protector. The light still says the protector is good. Of course. That light only reports one type of failure. Cannot report any protector as good:
http://www.zerosurge.com/HTML/movs.html

Effective protection costs abut $1 per appliance. Nothing adjacent to the appliance will accomplish effective protection. But as demonstrated by those lights, many will make recommendations without first learning the underlying science.

Even that ground light does not say anything about surge protection. It can report a bad safety ground. But cannot report a good safety ground.

 

[Dark Void]

Soooo, it just means the neon bulb for the power switch is specifically dying, and doesn't effect the performance of the unit?

I just want to if that means anything more significant than it simply not lighting up, which I can deal with. I don't even have the money right now to buy a surge protector or power strip, I dug this old dinosaur one up from some old boxes and dusted it off and apparently it works, the light on the power switch (solely) just flickers a lot, or dims out completely sometimes and then goes back to a flicker. Would that just be the bulb going dead?

 

[jenifer123]

APC is the best brand for Surge Protector.