Anti-surge protection for PC

[Lobster]

It Has Come To My Notice that I really ought to have this... at present all my PC kit (ie PC, monitor, fax-modem, router, subwoofer, printer) is plugged neatly into 3 (unprotected) double sockets under my desk. I'm loathe to interpose a 4-way strip (eg Screwfix 15615, £3.20) for aesthetic reasons; something built-in seems better like a protected double socket (eg Screwfix

10424, £17.99) - but why are these apparently so expensive in comparision? Am I missing something?

If I went for the protected socket option, which appliances should be protected? Just the PC itself or anything connected to it (ie, 3 dbl sockets needed?)

Thanks David

[Andrew Gabriel]

Waste of money in this country. Find something else to spend your money on.

[John Rumm]

Hmmmm easy profit, gullible customers!

If you want a DIY solution then invest 69p with Maplin for a transient spike suppresor:-

Am I missing something?

They are a long way from what could be described as adequate protection. If computers are crashing due to mains bourn spikes (rare these days since the PSUs in them are pretty effective at rejecting that anyway) they may help. They are not going to be the same as an online or line interactive UPS however! That is what you need for more complete protection.

At 69p each why not push the boat out and do all of them?

[L Reid]

I agree with Andrew, unless your in a rural location and prone to lightning strikes on your power cables and telephone. In which case the best solution is to unplug your pc (certainly your modem as it's less robust to spikes) during a storm.

[Peter Crosland]

As John says they really don't do the job particularly if you are in a rural area fed by overhead cabling that is at the mercy of the weather. If funds permit do the job properly with a good quality UPS. Just bought myself a new one after six years that cost £74 delivered from Watford Electronics (SAVACENTRE). It kicked in three times today and my system never missed a beat. I run the computer, TFT screen and ADSL router/modem of it. They have an APC 500VA model on special offer at present.

[John Rumm]

Four of those should be about right then ;-)

[Andy Hall]

I've got one of their 3kVA ones for my servers etc., although this is mainly to get more battery run time before shutting down. It seldom runs above 25% load, fortunately.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Robert Irwin]

At work we had a power surge at Xmas. Blew out the PSUs in about 20 PCs and a load of network switches. They really annoying bit was the £500 part on the aircon that blew :( Been assured by an electrician from Zimbabwe that surge protectores are a waste of money as they have loads of sureges there and surge protectors do sweet FA. As was backed up by our servers still running after the event, quality UPSes are the only real way to go.

Robert

[John Rumm]

I use a pair of 1kVAs. Its handy to keep things like all the monitors on a separate supply I find. That way you don't risk glitching a computer when you need to turn on a monitor in order to shut the computer down!

(Anything above a 15" CRT seems to briefly overload the 1kVA supply. Not an issue on mains but enough to cause a 100ms drop out on battery)

[Dave Stanton]

That was the concensus of opinions from Americans on another newsgroup when asked about lightening protection and they should now, considering the storms they get over there.

Dave

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Unless you're on a long overhead supply, I can't see any need for it. Any 'normal' rubbish on the supply should be filtered by the PS in the computer.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I agree. Been running PC's in rural locations ever since there were PC's. Never had any prblems apart from

(i) brownouts in the middle of reboot caused HD crash.

(ii) direct strike on telephone line took out 50% of mains wiring and TV wiring, modem, prnter, serial card, half the electronics on a TV and Hifi turntable, and burnt several holes in the carpets where I had laid flex underneath for bedroom lights, and over the top for a vacuum cleaner that happend to be plugged in at the time..

Surge arrestors would have done precisely nothing in either case.

[John Rumm]

Every time there is a bit of lightening I can almost guarentee that I will get a call from at least a couple of clients oven the next few days to say their computer either does not work, or won't connect to the internet. Without fail the problem can be traced to a dead PCI modem. Just as well they are cheap these days!

[Dave Stanton]

Thats why the guys in USA unplug and don't spend stupid money on surge arrestors.

Dave

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But would a mains anti-surge make any difference?

[Andrew Gabriel]

No, not a suppressor socket the OP was referring to.

It is possible to protect against such damage, but the cost isn't worth it unless you are talking of protecting some equipment much more valuable than a handfull of PC's.

[John Rumm]

Nope, although some UPSs do have a filtered feed through for a phone line. These can help save kit from induced spikes on the phone lines etc. Doubt they would cope with a direct strike on a line, but then again they are far less common.