Computer Solutions in the greater brisbane area.
A good surge board will save you money
I read an article at PCMag recently that really made me wonder; The writers summary suggested that surge protection was a waste of time and that you should buy a good UPS instead.
This is utterly wrong.
First off, the only people who need a UPS are those who’s machines are often doing critical work and where a cut in power would trash valuable data. If that’s not you, you probably do not need one.
The problem the writer experienced is one that many people do. It’s called a cheap surge protector. By cheap, I don’t really mean the price either, because I have seen plenty of $200 surge boards that are no better than $30 ones. Let me explain what makes a good one.
The first thing to concern yourself with is the ability of the board to absorb surges. This is usually measured in joules, which is a measure of energy. The way a surge protector works is by absorbing the extra power, a bit like a sponge absorbs water. Just like a sponge, there is a limit to how much it can absorb. Take a look at most, and you will find many of them only take around 500 joules, whereas a good one will absorb over 4000 joules.
The next thing to check is what happens when the board reaches this limit. In the case of nearly every board on the market, the surge protection simply stops working, and the board turns into a regular power strip. You have no idea it’s past its use by date, unless you happen to look at it and see a warning indicator, which some have. You have to ask yourself, how often do you crawl under the desk to check it?
A good surge protector will actually stop working entirely when it reaches this limit. No power to your equipment means no chance of a surge sneaking through once the board has done its job, and it also means that should you get hit with a massive surge or series of surges, your equipment will still be protected.
So go out and buy yourself a new surge board, and ask how many joules it will absorb, and what happens when it reaches that limit.
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Al
January 28, 2011
Your right if you need a ups as battery backup this may be of interest.
The primary role of a UPS is to maintain power in the event of a power outage but a UPS is not surge protection. If a major surge came down the line it would essentially ‘cook’ the UPS motherboard obviously rendering it unable to do its job. The best advice is to plug the UPS into a quality surge protector and printers, switches, hubs etc into the other banks of the board, this way everything is protected including the UPS (so it can do its job).
Frank
January 29, 2011
I think an important item to look at when choosing a surge board is the clamping voltage.
It is simple really. Choose the lowest clamping voltage you can find. The lowest I have seen is 275 volts and most I looked at were about 680 volts.
Computers are supposed to run at 240V, however we all Know that currently Electricity is all over the place. When the Voltage gets to 280, 290 300, electrical components start to blow or deteriorate thus reducing their life. Clamping the voltage as low as possible allows the surge protector to prevent the Voltage reaching the stages that cause damage to your hardware. Basically increasing the life or your computer and protecting your data.
Hope this is helpful.