Surge Protection Basics

With all the late afternoon thunderstorms in the Charleston area lately, I thought it would be beneficial to discuss surge protectors. Basically..unless you like having to spend money and time on replacing electronics..you need them.

photo credit: El Garza

First, evaluate your needs. How many devices do you need to protect? A typical desktop system might include:

• The system box
• Monitor
• Cable or DSL Modem
• Router
• Printer
• Amplified Speaker system
• External hard drive

As you can see, it’s not uncommon to have 7 or more devices. Remember, any device you connect to the computer needs protection or it might conduct a surge through a connection like a USB, telephone or coax cable.

A good surge protector will provide enough outlets for all your devices. You will also need a cable in/out if you have a cable modem and/or a telephone in/out if you have DSL.

Be careful about the orientation and spacing of the outlets…DC converter boxes may block adjacent outlets on surge protectors that have the outlets crowded together.

Well designed surge protectors will have lights that indicate the protector is working (for example, it hasn’t been damaged by a surge). Many can also indicate if the outlet they are plugged into is properly wired.

One of the differences between surge protectors is how many joules of energy they can absorb. This may be a number like 1750 joules or 2500. Higher is generally better. Think of this as the capacity of a tank that can hold excess energy that comes through and protect your equipment.

The time to consider buying a surge protector is before you need it, don’t wait until you lose an expensive component to buy one.