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The Specifics

I've just recently started using more equipment. My set-up consists of two external monitors powered by a laptop (15" late 2011 MacBook Pro if that matters). I have a docking station, an external hard drive, a set of speakers, a printer, and one or two other small devices (tablet, phone, etc.) also connected to outlets.

Some General Question(s)

How should I (or anyone) go about connecting their valuable equipment to electricity in a way that protects it from standard sorts of electrical damage (in a residential setting)?

What equipment is really needed? Are surge protectors sufficient? Is it advisable to connect all of your devices to a single surge protected power strip, or should you attempt to spread your devices across multiple wall outlets (each with it's own surge protector)?

The Main Question(s)

What sorts of electrical damage is it reasonable to fear (in a residential setting)? What is the best way to protect equipment from this damage?

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
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Dennis
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    Perhaps check these out for some ideas/answers: http://superuser.com/questions/287709/is-it-bad-to-leave-your-computer-on-during-a-thunderstorm, http://blog.superuser.com/2011/05/30/qotw-how-safe-is-it-to-leave-your-computer-on-during-a-storm/ Aside from that (to me anyway) this question is too broad, and is going primarily attract opinions vs. concrete answers. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Nov 17 '14 at 21:39
  • Do you live somewhere with poor quality power (e.g. rural areas, developing nations, a building with pre-1960's wiring)? – Jason Nov 17 '14 at 21:46
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Are the only risks of electrical damage from thunderstorms? If so, I agree this is a duplicate. Suggestions on how to narrow focus or make the question more concrete are welcome. Thanks! – Dennis Nov 17 '14 at 21:47
  • @Jason I live in the US, but the building is old. I'm not sure if the wiring has been updated since the 1960's. – Dennis Nov 17 '14 at 21:49
  • That and power surges/sags/outages, which a decent UPS would deal with. Follow the limits set forth by your chosen UPS specifications and you should be good for most cases. Edge cases quickly become too expensive for home use (cheaper to replace burnt out hardware and restore from backup). Also, talk to your insurance company and an electrician. ;) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Nov 17 '14 at 21:52
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Ok, if you think the answer to this question is essentially the answer to the thunderstorm question, then it would be fine to close as a duplicate (unless you want to turn your comment into an answer, since that answered the question I was trying to ask). Maybe the other question should be edited for more generality so that googlers like myself, not concerned specifically with thunderstorms, might find it easier? – Dennis Nov 17 '14 at 21:55
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    Thunderstorms are not the only risks. A UPS that lets you power down the critical hardware gracefully protects your work. Besides lightning, there are other forms of surges, plus brownouts. Surge protectors will handle surges (although cheap ones may need to be replaced after a surge). Brown outs can cause data loss like power outages. They can also cause overheating. A UPS will protect from brownouts, also. You don't need a UPS to protect every component, only what needs to remain active to gracefully power down or would be expensive to replace. – fixer1234 Nov 17 '14 at 22:33

1 Answers1

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To put this in perspective, the vast majority of computers and electronics use an inexpensive surge suppressor or nothing at all, and are never damaged for the lifetime of the device. Nonetheless, I'll go over the common types:

Power Tap: These provide no protection at all; they simply provide additional outlets. The back or bottom label will identify whether it's a "power tap" or "surge suppressor".

Surge Suppressor (MOV-based): These are the commonplace "power bars" you see everywhere. They protect using metal oxide varistor (MOVs), which wear out every time they protect against a surge. When they're completely used up, they will continue to provide power without protection! Because of this, it's recommended to purchase one with a "protected" indicator light.

Uninterruptible Power Supply (Line-Interactive): These are commonly known as a "battery backup" or a "UPS". They have a relay which switches over to battery power when power problems are detected. Unlike surge suppressors, these protect against a large variety of problems, most notably brownouts.

Uninterruptible Power Supply (Double-Conversion): Also known as an "online" UPS. These are the ultimate in power protection. Your devices always draw power from a battery, which make them immune to all power problems. Unfortunately, they are also very inefficient and expensive.

Jason
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  • Good points, MOV are fast to react, but in american 120V type power systems these are set to 3-400volts, protection? Really bad lightning strikes just jumps over any of this stuff :-) For the most part we found surge supressors to be so cheap appying them is easy. The UPSes some of them (as your pointing out) were completly useless until the power Fully quit. As fixer points out a brownout (not blackout) was far worse for my electronics. We tried many cheap UPS that did not work for brownouts. The "regulated" UPS handled sags and voltage changes not always having to go to battery to do so. – Psycogeek Nov 17 '14 at 22:57
  • So I am indicating there might be something that falls between the 2, Cheap UPSs that only work when you pull the plug, and you can test this, but when a brown hits, the electronics are still running having such a terrible time doing so on the power they will glitch and fail. (I lost stuff this way). And UPSes that have used the word "regulated" which balanced out the power when the variation was minor, and went much faster to battery when in brownout conditions, actually saving the electronics. Of course if "regulated" was a Marketing term, it would still be Cheap ones and ones that work:-) – Psycogeek Nov 17 '14 at 23:20
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    @Psycogeek The "regulated" UPS you're speaking of is line-interactive with a built-in automatic voltage regulator (AVR). The regulator can correct minor voltage problems without switching to battery. Because of this, they can use stricter tolerances. All high-end line-interactive UPS' include this feature. – Jason Nov 18 '14 at 00:25