After purchasing your favorite
electronics, there's one thing to have that will protect your
investment: a surge protector. A surge protector will protect
your electronics by absorbing dangerous excess voltage, preventing
most of it from reaching your sensitive equipment. One of the
most common ways electronics can get damaged by electronics
is from a lightning strike. Lightning can travel into the ground
and find its way right into your electrical sockets, overloading
the electronics with so much electricity, they fry internally.
With a surge protector, it stops it before it even gets to your
electronics.
When shopping for a surge protector, there are some things
to consider when narrowing down which one works best.
UL 1449 Clamping Voltage
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) rates the clamping voltage
of surge protectors. The lower the rating, the better the
protection. The lowest UL rating for clamping voltage is 330
volts. UL tests household surge protectors at 500 amps. Other
types, such as whole-house or heavy-duty, industrial models,
have a multitude of differences in their testing program.
When comparing clamping voltages, make sure the rating reflects
500-amp test results.
3-Line Protection
Surges can occur between hot, neutral and ground lines. Choose
a unit that protects along all three lines.
Circuit Breaker
A breaker stops the flow of electricity when a circuit is
overloaded and is not related to surges or spikes.
Ground Indicator Light
This light shows that the ground path is intact to provide
safety.
Response Time
This rating indicates how fast a surge protector can react.
The faster the better.
Indicator Light - This indicator lets you know the
unit is protecting. Once the unit has reached its capacity
and is no longer protecting, the light will go out.
Power Shut-Down Protection - This feature shuts off
power to all outlets once the unit has reached its capacity
to protect. Power shut-down prevents additional surges and
spikes from reaching connected equipment before the surge
protector is replaced. This assures you that if the unit has
power, it's protecting.
Cable Line Protection - Coaxial cable lines can carry
surges and spikes. For complete protection of your TV / DVD
player, you should protect the cable line as well as the power
line. To protect this equipment, select a surge protector
with coax line protection.
Digital Satellite Line Protection - Digital satellite
lines can also carry surges and spikes. These lines, however,
can't be connected to standard coax cable jacks. Choose a
surge protector with specially designed digital satellite
jacks.
Phone Line Protection - Surges can occur on telephone
lines. Phones, fax machines and modems can be damaged from
surges on the phone lines. To protect this equipment, select
a surge protector with phone line protection.
EMI / RFI - Electromagnetic interference (EMI) and
radio frequency interference (RFI) are types of noise on the
power line that can interfere with equipment performance and
possibly cause memory loss. When comparing EMI / RFI specs,
the wider the frequency range (kilohertz to megahertz) and
the greater the noise reduction in decibels (dB) across that
frequency range, the better the filtering.
Joule Rating - A joule is a measurement of energy.
The joule rating on a surge protector indicates the amount
of energy that a device is capable of absorbing. In general,
the higher the joule rating, the better the unit is able to
protect your equipment and the longer it will last. The joule
rating is determined by the total number of metal oxide varistors
(MOVs). An MOV is a component in surge protectors that absorbs
excess electrical energy and clamps the voltage to a safe
level.
Alarm - An audible alarm lets you know the surge protector
is no longer protecting and should be replaced. This feature
is important when the unit doesn't feature power shut-down
protection or when the indicator light is out of sight.
Guarantee - Check the manufacturer's warranty. A data
recovery program is an added bonus that will cover costs related
to the task of recovering data on a malfunctioning hard drive
as a result of a surge.
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