Power Surges . Am I doing enough to protect my investments?

[lawrenerc]

Dear All,

I have some questions relating to power surges and preservation of hardware longevity.

Recently my home has been experiencing some power outages which I'm still trying to figure out the cause of. Last night I've had 2 power outages. What I'm worried of is more about my system being plugged into the power strip and the power surge when my gf turns the power jumper back on.

This is the current model of surge protector I use.
http://www.targus.com/hk/product_details.asp?sku=APS11AP

However it is not the famous APC or TRIPPLITE brands, which is hard to come by where I'm from.

I am just wondering if I am doing enough to protect my system from damages.

 

[caddi daddi]

if you have a modern power supply and have the bios set to stay off on power loss the computers fine.

 

[NiHaoMike]

I presume by "power outage" you mean by where your house or parts of it randomly lose power but the neighbor doesn't? If so, I would recommend to get that checked since the most likely cause would be a loose connection which is a fire hazard.

 

[lawrenerc]

I presume by "power outage" you mean by where your house or parts of it randomly lose power but the neighbor doesn't? If so, I would recommend to get that checked since the most likely cause would be a loose connection which is a fire hazard.

Hey Mike, thanks for the feedback. Yep, most likely I'm suspecting the motor of my garage door was waterdamaged seems like it shorted when someone tried to open the gate.

 

[trents]

if you have a modern power supply and have the bios set to stay off on power loss the computers fine.

This.

But concerning surge protectors, I recommend to customers to get ones rated for at least 1000 joules. Your's specs out at 1000 joules so it gives good protection against power surges. After many times of being "tripped" however, they do get weak so if this is happening I would replace it after awhile. But ordinary power outages is not a tripping event. A direct lightening strike to your home, for instance, would be.

 

[JrClocker]

If you are losing power to some rooms but not the whole house, you need to get that checked out immediately!

There are few scenarios that could cause this:

1) a device or the total of devices on one circuit breaker is pulling too much current. Breakers trip on over current.

2) if you have a GFI breaker in the loop, this could be causing a trip. GFI breakers are required by code if any portion of the connected circuit goes outside, through a bathroom, or through the kitchen. Most commonly, these will be the "reset & set" buttons on a power plug. These types of breakers trip when the current flowing in the hot does not match the current flowing in the neutral...i.e. going someplace else. These types of trips are VERY dangerous.

3) The breaker is malfunctioning.

If you think it's the garage door opener, you can simply unplug it. There will be an AC power cord that goes fro. The opener to a common AC plug.


In addition to power strips, the best protection is a UPS battery backup. These protect against surges and also keep the line power going to the PC stable.

 

[SPL Tech]

Contrary to popular belief, a direct lightning strike WILL NOT be stopped by ANY surge protector, even several in series with each other. A direct lightning strike can produce more than a trillion volts which is enough to arc across several miles (hints the arc you see in the sky), so it will have no problem arcing through a surge protector. Voltage that high would destroy absolutely anything, under any conditions and there is absolutely no way to protect against it other than physically unplugging your devices.

It can however protect against small voltage spikes caused by lightning strikes a long distance away. Ultimately though, unless you live in an area known to have a lot of electrical surges I wouldent worry about it. I’ve never seen a power surge occur in any of the areas I’ve lived in, nor have I known anyone who has. While I am sure someone has a story of how a surge killed their crap, ultimately unless you live in surge central I think it’s an exceedingly rare event.

 

[SPL Tech]

Contrary to popular belief, a direct lightning strike WILL NOT be stopped by ANY surge protector, even several in series with each other. A direct lightning strike can produce more than a trillion volts which is enough to arc across several miles (hints the arc you see in the sky), so it will have no problem arcing through a surge protector. Voltage that high would destroy absolutely anything, under any conditions and there is absolutely no way to protect against it other than physically unplugging your devices.

It can however protect against small voltage spikes caused by lightning strikes a long distance away. Ultimately though, unless you live in an area known to have a lot of electrical surges I wouldent worry about it. I’ve never seen a power surge occur in any of the areas I’ve lived in, nor have I known anyone who has. While I am sure someone has a story of how a surge killed their stuff, ultimately unless you live in surge central I think it’s an exceedingly rare event. Loosing power and turning it back on wont kill a computer. That happens in households all the time. Your computer will not turn on the milisecond it gets power back. Even if it is set to turn on automatically upon power on (nearly all computers dont do that by default), it doesent turn on instantly, there is a delay.