Jo-Anne wrote:
"Char Jackson" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 5 Mar 2012 18:40:17 -0600, "Jo-Anne"
wrote:

"Paul" wrote in message
...
I use the dime-a-dozen variety myself, but for an install back home,
I used one of these. I used this, so all the gear could be turned off
at once. This box has room for mounting screws, and I mounted it on the
side of the desk.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16842111078

It has a pair of RJ-11 jacks on the side, for "passthru" protection of
a phone line. But on the home setup, all we had was dialup, and
I don't know whether this protection upsets ADSL frequencies or
not. But this might clip garbage coming in over a phone line.
(At the demarcation point in the basement, the phone line likely
has some of its own protection.)

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/42-111-078-Z03?$S640W$

In my ADSL setup here, I use a dime-a-dozen protector, with the
same style passthru RJ-11 protection, and it doesn't seem to affect
the ADSL at all. The protector was designed, before ADSL came along,
which is why I was a bit worried about it.

That Tripplite box has a 90 degree AC plug, for flush mount
behind furniture. Which can be a blessing or a curse, depending
on your setup.

Thank you, Paul! I plug my laptop, fax machine, and printer into the
4-outlet Tripp-Lite model just like the 6-outlet one you linked to at
Newegg. I've had it for at least a few years. No problems so far. So maybe
I
should splurge and get another one for the modem/router and phone and a
cheapie for the netbook.
Keep in mind that the dime a dozen units typically get their
protection by using MOV's, Metal Oxide Varistors, and the MOV's
primarily provide protection from noise and spikes by absorbing it.
Thus, they get damaged over time, some quicker than others, depending
on what they've been subjected to. A unit that's a few years old may
be little more than an outlet strip by now, providing little or no
protection.



Is there a way to tell if a surge protector is still protecting? My
Tripp-Lite is not a dime-a-dozen unit, but I've used it for several years. I
also have (but am not currently using) an old, rather expensive APC UPS. A
few years ago, when I thought it was still functional, a power surge
destroyed the fax machine and damaged the desktop computer plugged into it.
I replaced the batteries in the UPS, but I've been afraid to use it.

Jo-Anne

All the surge protectors I have here, have a status LED. It's supposed
to provide a check that the protection devices are still present. It
does not do any sort of "capability" check, like check that it can handle
X number of joules. It's basically a check to see if it has been blown
clear and is no longer in the circuit.

The MOV can explode, and the bits can fly around inside the strip or
box. And I think that's the only case the LED on my surge protectors
would handle. If the thing is weak, and only has "half a lightning
bolt" left in it, I'd never know. The status LED would say everything
was "A-OK".

You can see the guts of this one, and a green status LED near the top of it.

http://img.tfd.com/cde/_MOV.GIF

On this surge protector, the status LED is the one on the left,
labeled "Protection Present".

http://codinghorror.typepad.com/.a/6...86d5ac3970b-pi

This is a good MOV.

http://www.beananimal.com/media/9612...5D_250x329.jpg

A partially cooked MOV.

http://www.beananimal.com/media/9607...5D_250x187.jpg

A burned MOV.

http://www.beananimal.com/media/9617...00p%5B1%5D.jpg

Side blown off an MOV.

http://www.sellcom.com/images/nofail2.gif

And this used to be a power strip (probably overloaded, not an MOV fault :-) )
Some of the Chinese strips wouldn't even pass any kind of inspection
or check, if you opened them up for a look. This strip was probably
something bought at the "dollar store". But because it's no longer
recognizable as a strip, there's no way to tell what brand it was.

http://www.obri.net/eeh/images/SurgeProFire2Jan03.JPG

Paul