Surge Protection Question

I think you'll find it doesn't..

I honestly dont remember. Its 7 years old and i dont feel like taking it out of the case to look because my case covers up part of it on the outside.

But either way, just saying every power supply is garbage if it has a toggle switch is ignorant.
 
I honestly dont remember. Its 7 years old and i dont feel like taking it out of the case to look because my case covers up part of it on the outside.

But either way, just saying every power supply is garbage if it has a toggle switch is ignorant.

Mate, don't call me ignorant. Your PSU has no switch. Quality units have the internal regulation circuitry. That increases cost, so a physical switch is cheaper and found much more on garbage units.
 
Since electronics are robust, then most 'surges' hyped by HowStuffWorks are only noise. Your concern is a rare and destructive transient that occurs maybe once every seven years. A number that can vary significantly even in the same town.

I agree that surges that originate inside a house are unlikely to cause problems.

The main sources of damaging surges are lightning and also normal and abnormal utility events.

For accurate and reliable information on surge protection read the IEEE and NIST surge guides instead of HowStuffWorks.

And that neither a power strip nor UPS claims top protect from.

Nonsense.
Some manufacturers have protected equipment warranties.
And both the IEEE and NIST surge guides say plug-in protectors are effective.

You are strongly advised to consider this superior and less expensive 'whole house' solution.

Repeating:
Service panel protectors are a real good idea.
But from the NIST surge guide:
"Q - Will a surge protector installed at the service entrance be sufficient for the whole house?
A - There are two answers to than question: Yes for one-link appliances [electronic equipment], No for two-link appliances [equipment connected to power AND phone or cable or....]. Since most homes today have some kind of two-link appliances, the prudent answer to the question would be NO - but that does not mean that a surge protector installed at the service entrance is useless."

Service panel protectors do not by themselves prevent high voltages from developing between power and phone/cable/... wires. The NIST surge guide suggests most equipment damage is from high voltage between power and signal wires. An example of where a service panel protector would provide no protection is the IEEE surge guide example starting page 30.

Since even a UPS needs protection only possible with that proven solution.

More nonsense.
 
Mate, don't call me ignorant. Your PSU has no switch. Quality units have the internal regulation circuitry. That increases cost, so a physical switch is cheaper and found much more on garbage units.

However, that feature alone has no impact on the quality of the power supply. So....why must ONLY good units have it if it doesnt effect the life span or power output of the power supply?
 
And, I dont think 270 volts would be fine for all electronics that are made to run 110-120 volts.
Why are so many computers and other electronics not routinely destroyed when the attached UPS switches to battery backup mode?

Learn what those parameters define. Nobody said it was 270 volts continuous. Do not read by ignoring some words - ie "spike". Electronics are so robust (as even defined by international design standards) as to withstand spikes up to 600 volts.

That is for electronics in general. Computers are required by other standards to be even more robust. For example, its Ethernet port must withstand up to 2000 volt spikes without damage. How can that be if Ethernet interface semiconductors are so sensitive? They are not.

Example from a datasheet provides what hearsay does not - numbers. This semiconductor can be destroyed by 50 volts when in standalone mode. But it can withstand 15,000 volts when part of a system. Read the top of page of its datasheet:
http://datasheets.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX1487E-MAX491E.pdf
They even provide an international standard that defines its robustness with numbers: IEC 61000-4-2.

Please do not learn from hearsay. So many so called "computer literates" do not learn from how electronics work. Many believe fables about sensitive electronics. Its easy to separate hooey from fact. Facts come with numbers. Fables do not. Fables use subjective reasoning - also called junk science.

Returning to the OP's original question. A surge that is hundreds of joules is often absorbed as energy to power its electronics. Surges that can even destroy some power strip protectors are too tiny to overwhelm protection in many appliances. Especially computers that must be even more robust. 120 volt electronics (even before the PC existed) were designed to withstand (without damage) spikes up to 600 volts. Today's computers are even more robust.

However, sometimes a power strip can even compromise that protection as we engineers demonstrated by identifying and replacing each damaged semiconductor. But then we had to actually learn this stuff rather than learn from another's speculation. Sometimes a strip protector can compromise protection already inside a computer when a 'whole house' solution is not implemented.

OP's concern is a rare transient that typically causes damage. No adjacent power strip even claims to protect from that type of surge. For so many reasons including some posted above. Facilities that cannot have damage do not use the power strip solution. Instead use what has been proven by over 100 years of science and experience: a 'whole house' solution. Then robust protection inside all electronics and motorized appliances are not overwhelmed.

Ae final note. power supply that works on any voltage from 85 to 265 volts is called a "universal power supply". Some did this by replacing that power switch with a semiconductor. Others use different circuits. Universal supplies withstand even higher voltage spikes without damage. International design standards long ago said 120 volt supplies had to withstand 600 volt spikes without damage.
 
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OMFG! westom seems to be on every forum on the Internet being the surge protector extraordinaire. I've seen him on Techimo and anandtech. Just Google his user name. I'm surprised Dude111 isn't here.

Edit- bud-- is here too? FFS! They both argue about surge protectors! LMAO!
 
But it can withstand 15,000 volts when part of a system.

That is ESD protection - electrostatic discharge - as in shuffle across the rug and touch it. Very low energy.

Surges that can even destroy some power strip protectors are too tiny to overwhelm protection in many appliances.

Westom just ignores anything that does not fit his limited views on surge protection. Like that the energy that can be absorbed with even a large power line surge is 35 joules max. And the level of protection in a plug-in protector will not likely ever be found in any equipment.

OP's concern is a rare transient that typically causes damage. No adjacent power strip even claims to protect from that type of surge.

Nonsense.

Westom is on a crusade to eliminate the bane of plug-in protectors. He just continues to repeat his talking points.

For real science read the IEEE and NIST surge guides. Both say plug-in protectors are effective. And they contain a lot of other excellent information on surge protection.
 
^ agreed, however just to be clear, lighting as per the OP's question, is outside the range of 'surge protectors'
 
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Yea. My stepdad had like 6 of these things that had batteries in them, im assuming those are the ups's your talking about? They said APC on them, think it was the brand name. I threw them all away because they had been sittin in my garage for about a decade.

Yeah APC's a pretty reputable brand. You just toss 'em in the trash? They have a lot of toxic stuff in them... and they're essentially a huge battery with a bit of simple circuitry, so recycling them is definitely for the greater good. Not scolding you, but just reminding everyone.
 
Yeah APC's a pretty reputable brand. You just toss 'em in the trash? They have a lot of toxic stuff in them... and they're essentially a huge battery with a bit of simple circuitry, so recycling them is definitely for the greater good. Not scolding you, but just reminding everyone.

Oh no. I had a friend take all the batteries, he recycles them.
 
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