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  1. #1
    low on funds high on hope
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    surge protector help

    thanks to everyone for answering so many questions, i have learned alot over the last month or so on here. my next level of education needs to be surge protectors. as i look at them, i feel the same way as with monster cables. there are really high prices and moderate. currently i have a 2100 joule rca surge protector($18). is this sufficient? i know that nothing really protects from lighting, but can power surges be greater than that? . i have a my receiver, dvd, tv, vcr, gaming systems hooked up currently. also, do i need a surge protector for my subwoofer, or is the built in fuse for that?
    spl or die.

  2. #2
    low on funds high on hope
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    oh yeah...

    has anybody every heard whether the "insurance" provided by these have actually been used and reimbursed? mine is supposedly $50,000 which is like 5x more than my equipment,
    spl or die.

  3. #3
    I put the Gee in Gear.... thekid's Avatar
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    Regarding the manufacturer's "insurance" I have not made a claim (hope I never have to) but they make it very clear you need to keep specific paperwork or it is voided. If you have a fairly expensive set-up you may want to look at your renters/homwowners coverage and see if you can purchase a separate more specfic rider. Depending on the policy you can set a lower deductible for this rider and it will provide more comprehensive coverage than what the manufacturer of your surge protector.

  4. #4
    Forum Regular Woochifer's Avatar
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    Surge protectors are necessary just because the household current will periodically get a surge sent into them. Some electronics are more sensitive to these fluctuations than others. The fuse on a subwoofer is designed to trip before it puts out enough power to damage the amplifier. The surge protectors protect the system from external surges.

    Even the best surge protectors may not be enough to protect against lightning strikes. Best thing to do is just unplug your system from the wall whenever you got a bad thunderstorm in the area.

  5. #5
    Forum Regular
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    I found a lot of info about surge suppressors from a thread on another forum.
    Hear is a post by a member ,Doug Deacon from that thread. I found it to be very informative.


    There are only two technologies widely available for surge/spike protection. Once you understand the differences between them, the decision about which technology to buy is trivially easy.

    Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) surge suppressors
    MOV's are used in products sold by Monster, APC, Walmart, Radio Shack and nearly every other surge suppressor and UPS on the market. MOV's have three features you need to know about:

    1. They all have a finite clamping speed, some of the surge gets through before the rest is shunted to ground. Your "protected" equipment takes a constant series of mini-spikes. Nothing you'll notice, nothing to invoke the $5MM equipment replacement warranty, but not good for delicate circuits either.

    2. MOV's work by shunting excess voltage to ground, which contaminates the ground of all circuits that share the same ground. Electrical grunge and screwed up voltage for the whole system.

    3. MOV's are all designed to fail. They are a consumable. Every spike they shunt, whether large or small, degrades them. That's what "joules ratings" are for, they indicate how many joules the MOV can shunt before failing.

    Once an MOV fails, and they all will, they provide no more protection. Zero. If your unit doesn't have some kind of warning indicator (most don't, unfortunately) you'll find out when the next spike comes through and fries your equipment.

    UPDATE: a few lucky users will find out immediately when their MOV takes its final hit, since they've been known to ignite. That's right, a fire in your HT rack! To be honest, this is fairly rare... feel better?

    Not interested in MOV-based "protection"? Keep reading.

    Series Mode (SM) surge suppressors
    These were originally designed for the Dept. of Defense, which wasn't happy with the limitations of MOV-based protectors. They are far more reliable and robust than MOV's:

    1. SM suppressors have virtually instantaneous reaction speed, nothing gets through above the threshold.

    2. Excess voltage is never shunted to ground where it can contaminate the system. When a spike comes in the SM device just opens the circuit. No circuit, no surge.

    3. A SM suppressor will probably not wear out in your lifetime. They are not designed-to-fail consumables. SM surge suppressors have no joules ratings because, realistically speaking, they have no capacity limits. There is no practical way to measure the total joules these devices can handle. It would be like trying to measure the amount of water you can pour into a bottomless cup.

    For more details about SM surge suppressors:
    http://www.digitaltechonline.com/surgeprotect.asp

    AFAIK, they are available from just four commercial sources. Compared with the value of your equipment they're not very expensive. I have one on the dedicated circuit that runs my entire HT setup. Cost me about $250 plus an electrician to wire it in. If you prefer a unit that you can just plug into the wall, or even a whole-house unit, they make those too.

    Sources for SM surge suppressors:
    ZeroSurge (http://www.zerosurge.com) (the inventor of the technology)
    BrickWall (http://www.brickwall.com) (good value and a sponsor of this forum)
    Surgex (http://www.surgex.com) (wall-based units like mine)
    Adcom (http://www.adcom.com) (audio components with SM protection)

    NOTE: your coax lines (cable/sat/antenna) are also pathways for electrical surges. No matter how well-protected your AC lines are, a nearby lightning strike could reach any equipment connected, directly or indirectly, to these other paths. The Adcom units linked above already include coax protection of a kind similar to the units described below. If you chose a ZeroSurge, Brickwall or Surgex you should get one of the following...

    AVSForum member jkhome found a $5 coax surge suppressor. Like an MOV, this device apparently takes a limited number of hits before dying but, here's the key, when it does reach its limit it stops passing signal. This is the opposite of what MOV's do, and is much safer for your equipment. Product details are at:

    Surgender coax surge suppressor (http://www.newtechindustries.com/new...ccess/se1k.htm)

    Video321 adds that, "Radio Shack has an add-on coax surge protector for $10. The model # is 15-1110. The surge life is 5x that of the Surgender and also lists a frequency range of 5 to 2050MHz."

    Either of these seems like a good investment if you choose a SM line protector other than an Adcom.

    Disclaimer: I don't have trouble changing light bulbs, but I am not an electrician or electrically qualified in any way. The above is based on a lot of careful research when looking for my own surge protection devices.
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