surge protector for laser printer?

Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

On 5/9/2015 5:56 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne


You should be able to use almost any plug-in surge suppressor as long as
it does not include any form of battery backup.

What ever works for a PC or TV will also work for a home printer. Those
outlet strip versions work nice as long as the outlet it is plugged into
is properly grounded. The higher Joules rating the better but that does
tend to raise the cost some.

I personally like Tripp Lite or APC brands but Belkin is also a good one
from what I've seen. I had an insurance company buy me a case of Tripp
Lite units after an apartment had a near miss with a lightning strike,
that fried the appliances plugged in, like refrigerator, TV, Circuit
breaker box, and so on. The only thing that survived was my PC that was
plugged into a strip style surge supressor. The supressor melted but
protected my PC before it melted. My old style light bulbs went off
like flash bulbs, those with the lamp turned on or off. The surge was
large enough that the switches basically did not exist.

On Sat, 09 May 2015 17:56:34 -0500, Jo-Anne
wrote:


Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?


Unless you spend a lot of money for a surge protector ($100 or so),
most of them are little more than fancy extension cords. It hardly
matters which you buy.

If you want real protection, buy a UPS (preferably by APC) rather than
a surge protector.

GlowingBlueMist wrote on 5/9/2015 5:49 PM:
On 5/9/2015 5:56 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power
strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne


You should be able to use almost any plug-in surge suppressor as long as
it does not include any form of battery backup.

What ever works for a PC or TV will also work for a home printer. Those
outlet strip versions work nice as long as the outlet it is plugged into
is properly grounded. The higher Joules rating the better but that does
tend to raise the cost some.

I personally like Tripp Lite or APC brands but Belkin is also a good one
from what I've seen. I had an insurance company buy me a case of Tripp
Lite units after an apartment had a near miss with a lightning strike,
that fried the appliances plugged in, like refrigerator, TV, Circuit
breaker box, and so on. The only thing that survived was my PC that was
plugged into a strip style surge supressor. The supressor melted but
protected my PC before it melted. My old style light bulbs went off
like flash bulbs, those with the lamp turned on or off. The surge was
large enough that the switches basically did not exist.

The 4100 is not a home printer. In its day, many corporations with
10,000 + employees bought oodles of them. I think they are 35 page a
minute for real. When the start to crank, they pull a hell of a lot of
current.

You can plug one into a surge-suppression device IF: 1) it passes ground
through and 2) it can handle the load - look at the power rating of the
strip and the printer. I've been running my 4300 all these years on such
a set up and lived through a large number of power events with no
problem. Do avoid the UPS even if you have surge suppression / no
battery backup ports. The problem is the amount of current drawn when
you turn the printer on and when it comes out of idle to start a print
job. The 4100 was designed for corporate use where special wiring was
available any place needed.
--
Jeff Barnett

Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

It comes down to how well you want to protect the device.
Specs show the 4100N draws 385 watts normal operations, so assume
about 4 amps at 120v. 4100 plain draws slightly less.
We install Tripp Lite ISOBAR4 ULTRA units on our industrial equipment.
If it were mine and I wanted to keep it, that is what I would get.
I don't see any reason to use a UPS on a printer, but if you do
then 600 watts minimum to account for printer start up surge.
A good UPS will cost more than a new printer.

Jeff Barnett wrote:
GlowingBlueMist wrote on 5/9/2015 5:49 PM:
On 5/9/2015 5:56 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power
strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne


You should be able to use almost any plug-in surge suppressor as long as
it does not include any form of battery backup.

What ever works for a PC or TV will also work for a home printer. Those
outlet strip versions work nice as long as the outlet it is plugged into
is properly grounded. The higher Joules rating the better but that does
tend to raise the cost some.

I personally like Tripp Lite or APC brands but Belkin is also a good one
from what I've seen. I had an insurance company buy me a case of Tripp
Lite units after an apartment had a near miss with a lightning strike,
that fried the appliances plugged in, like refrigerator, TV, Circuit
breaker box, and so on. The only thing that survived was my PC that was
plugged into a strip style surge supressor. The supressor melted but
protected my PC before it melted. My old style light bulbs went off
like flash bulbs, those with the lamp turned on or off. The surge was
large enough that the switches basically did not exist.

The 4100 is not a home printer. In its day, many corporations with
10,000 + employees bought oodles of them. I think they are 35 page a
minute for real. When the start to crank, they pull a hell of a lot of
current.

You can plug one into a surge-suppression device IF: 1) it passes ground
through and 2) it can handle the load - look at the power rating of the
strip and the printer. I've been running my 4300 all these years on such
a set up and lived through a large number of power events with no
problem. Do avoid the UPS even if you have surge suppression / no
battery backup ports. The problem is the amount of current drawn when
you turn the printer on and when it comes out of idle to start a print
job. The 4100 was designed for corporate use where special wiring was
available any place needed.

User guides
http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/sit...ContentResults

HP LaserJet 4100 Series - User Guide PDF 6.77MB User

Electrical specifications [page 203]
Printer model Power consumption (average, in watts)
Printing Standby PowerSave Off
HP LaserJet 4100 450 17 17 0
HP LaserJet 4100N 450 18 18 0
HP LaserJet 4100TN 450 19 19 0
HP LaserJet 4100DTN 450 20 20 0

Minimum recommended circuit capacity
100 to 127 Volt 10 amps
220 to 240 Volt 5 amps

Laser printers draw a lot of power when warming up the fuser unit.
The fuser unit runs at a temperature higher than that required
to burn flesh. It fuses toner particles (like a plastic) to the paper,
on their way out of the printer. The print "smudges" if the toner
is not fused to the point that it melts and sticks to the paper.

In the old days, the fuser would be given 1000W to bring it
up to temperature relatively quickly. Which was still on the
order of 30 seconds or so, as the fuser unit has a bit of
thermal mass for buffering while being used (so a single
sheet of paper won't cool it off). They could have designed it
like a radiant heater, give it low thermal mass, and
only heat the fuser when needed, but instead the
idea was to heat a chunk of stuff to the desired temperature.
I've never taken a fuser apart for a look. Usually
when I was looking at it, it was too hot to touch.

A later improvement was Power Save, where, instead of
thermostatically cycling the fuser and keeping it in
a "baking" state, the unit powers down and requires
the user to put up with the 30 second delay again.
If the old method of keeping the fuser close to
operating temperature was used, there would be
no 30 second delay for the first sheet.

So the above spec makes sense, but as a user, I would
have appreciated a statement about "electrical requirements
during warmup period". Which would justify "minimum recommended
circuit capacity" statement. It's possible the above
electrical table is just a bad characterization,
a fabrication intended to fool people into thinking
it wasn't a power pig. I'm sure the moment to moment
power usage, would not follow that smooth of a curve,
so the "average" quoted above, has a rather large
variance.

*******

This is the kind of surge suppressor I've used in the past.
The design has been changed, since I used this. It used to
have two RJ-11 connectors on the side, so that it would
also perform suppression for a phone line (like, your fax
machine or dialup modem, incoming line). Since of course,
nobody faxes any more (/sarcasm), they removed that feature.
The price on these is also a bit lower than it used to be.
These are available with up to eight outlets, and a
ridiculously long code. The four hole one I used, the cord
might have been six to eight feet.

Tripplite surge suppressor isobar
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-ISO.../dp/B0000513O4

You can see in the photo here, there are some metal channels
underneath. I cannot find a bottom view of the unit, but
there should be four screw holes. On the desktop furniture
I installed this on, I think I drilled four holes on the
side of the desk, put the Tripplite on the side, and the
mounting rails have holes for the panhead screw heads to
go through. Then the unit lowers down, and the screw heads
are "trapped" in the plate. (You have to lift upwards again,
to unmount the thing.) In the same way that some wall
clocks slide down over a screw head. This secures the
unit to the side of the desk, so it requires no surface
space. Whether this is a good idea, depends on what your
installation area looks like.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/12-120-531-Z02?$S640$

The unit has a right angle power plug, but it's a different
shape than the one I got. The three prong pattern doesn't point
straight down. This is for putting the plug behind furniture,
but by shaping it the way they did, only half the customers
are going to like the angle of departure (departure angle
45 degrees right and down, flat against wall). Having the
cord run straight down the wall would have been better,
pleasing all customers a little bit.

Paul

Hi, Jo-Anne.

In 1985, I bought what Xerox said was the first Xerox 4045 laser printer
delivered in Oklahoma. This was for me to print income tax returns that
looked as good as the ones my former partnership in California had had
prepared by the CompuTax service bureau. The 4045 cost me over $5,000, and
I wanted to protect it so I plugged it into the Uninterruptible Power Supply
that I was using for my computer and other office equipment. This was a big
unit for a small office: an Electro-Safe 7000 that weighed a TON and cost
me over $500 in 1985 dollars. But every time I tried to print with the
4045. the printer just lost power and died. Then the UPS died, too. I'm an
accountant, not an electrician or techie of any kind. When I called the UPS
maker, the technician said, in a stunned tone of voice, "You could not have
killed that UPS more surely if you had tried intentionally!"

I used that printer for several years; even brought it to Texas when I moved
here in 1990. But I always plugged it into the wall receptacle! And, using
a custom-designed character set. it produced beautiful tax returns!

For the past few years I've used an HP inkjet printer (currently an 8610) -
which my APC ES-750 BPS can handle easily.

RC
-- --
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2012 (Build 16.4.3528.0331) in Win8.1 Pro w/Media Center


"Jo-Anne" wrote in message ...

Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

On 5/9/2015 6:49 PM, GlowingBlueMist wrote:
On 5/9/2015 5:56 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power
strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne


You should be able to use almost any plug-in surge suppressor as long as
it does not include any form of battery backup.

What ever works for a PC or TV will also work for a home printer. Those
outlet strip versions work nice as long as the outlet it is plugged into
is properly grounded. The higher Joules rating the better but that does
tend to raise the cost some.

I personally like Tripp Lite or APC brands but Belkin is also a good one
from what I've seen. I had an insurance company buy me a case of Tripp
Lite units after an apartment had a near miss with a lightning strike,
that fried the appliances plugged in, like refrigerator, TV, Circuit
breaker box, and so on. The only thing that survived was my PC that was
plugged into a strip style surge supressor. The supressor melted but
protected my PC before it melted. My old style light bulbs went off
like flash bulbs, those with the lamp turned on or off. The surge was
large enough that the switches basically did not exist.


Thank you! That's certainly a good recommendation for using a surge
protector. I guess I should get some for the kitchen appliances too.

Jo-Anne

On 5/9/2015 7:10 PM, Jeff Barnett wrote:
GlowingBlueMist wrote on 5/9/2015 5:49 PM:
On 5/9/2015 5:56 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power
strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne


You should be able to use almost any plug-in surge suppressor as long as
it does not include any form of battery backup.

What ever works for a PC or TV will also work for a home printer. Those
outlet strip versions work nice as long as the outlet it is plugged into
is properly grounded. The higher Joules rating the better but that does
tend to raise the cost some.

I personally like Tripp Lite or APC brands but Belkin is also a good one
from what I've seen. I had an insurance company buy me a case of Tripp
Lite units after an apartment had a near miss with a lightning strike,
that fried the appliances plugged in, like refrigerator, TV, Circuit
breaker box, and so on. The only thing that survived was my PC that was
plugged into a strip style surge supressor. The supressor melted but
protected my PC before it melted. My old style light bulbs went off
like flash bulbs, those with the lamp turned on or off. The surge was
large enough that the switches basically did not exist.

The 4100 is not a home printer. In its day, many corporations with
10,000 + employees bought oodles of them. I think they are 35 page a
minute for real. When the start to crank, they pull a hell of a lot of
current.

You can plug one into a surge-suppression device IF: 1) it passes ground
through and 2) it can handle the load - look at the power rating of the
strip and the printer. I've been running my 4300 all these years on such
a set up and lived through a large number of power events with no
problem. Do avoid the UPS even if you have surge suppression / no
battery backup ports. The problem is the amount of current drawn when
you turn the printer on and when it comes out of idle to start a print
job. The 4100 was designed for corporate use where special wiring was
available any place needed.

Thank you, Jeff! I learned the hard way to avoid a UPS and will look
carefully at the surge suppressors available. When I bought the printer,
I was doing a lot of printing for my work and wanted a really good
printer. This one has been excellent.

Jo-Anne

On 5/9/2015 8:35 PM, Paul wrote:
Jeff Barnett wrote:
GlowingBlueMist wrote on 5/9/2015 5:49 PM:
On 5/9/2015 5:56 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power
strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne


You should be able to use almost any plug-in surge suppressor as long as
it does not include any form of battery backup.

What ever works for a PC or TV will also work for a home printer. Those
outlet strip versions work nice as long as the outlet it is plugged into
is properly grounded. The higher Joules rating the better but that does
tend to raise the cost some.

I personally like Tripp Lite or APC brands but Belkin is also a good one
from what I've seen. I had an insurance company buy me a case of Tripp
Lite units after an apartment had a near miss with a lightning strike,
that fried the appliances plugged in, like refrigerator, TV, Circuit
breaker box, and so on. The only thing that survived was my PC that was
plugged into a strip style surge supressor. The supressor melted but
protected my PC before it melted. My old style light bulbs went off
like flash bulbs, those with the lamp turned on or off. The surge was
large enough that the switches basically did not exist.

The 4100 is not a home printer. In its day, many corporations with
10,000 + employees bought oodles of them. I think they are 35 page a
minute for real. When the start to crank, they pull a hell of a lot of
current.

You can plug one into a surge-suppression device IF: 1) it passes
ground through and 2) it can handle the load - look at the power
rating of the strip and the printer. I've been running my 4300 all
these years on such a set up and lived through a large number of power
events with no problem. Do avoid the UPS even if you have surge
suppression / no battery backup ports. The problem is the amount of
current drawn when you turn the printer on and when it comes out of
idle to start a print job. The 4100 was designed for corporate use
where special wiring was available any place needed.

User guides
http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/sit...ContentResults


HP LaserJet 4100 Series - User Guide PDF 6.77MB User

Electrical specifications [page 203]
Printer model Power consumption (average, in watts)
Printing Standby PowerSave Off
HP LaserJet 4100 450 17 17 0
HP LaserJet 4100N 450 18 18 0
HP LaserJet 4100TN 450 19 19 0
HP LaserJet 4100DTN 450 20 20 0

Minimum recommended circuit capacity
100 to 127 Volt 10 amps
220 to 240 Volt 5 amps

Laser printers draw a lot of power when warming up the fuser unit.
The fuser unit runs at a temperature higher than that required
to burn flesh. It fuses toner particles (like a plastic) to the paper,
on their way out of the printer. The print "smudges" if the toner
is not fused to the point that it melts and sticks to the paper.

In the old days, the fuser would be given 1000W to bring it
up to temperature relatively quickly. Which was still on the
order of 30 seconds or so, as the fuser unit has a bit of
thermal mass for buffering while being used (so a single
sheet of paper won't cool it off). They could have designed it
like a radiant heater, give it low thermal mass, and
only heat the fuser when needed, but instead the
idea was to heat a chunk of stuff to the desired temperature.
I've never taken a fuser apart for a look. Usually
when I was looking at it, it was too hot to touch.

A later improvement was Power Save, where, instead of
thermostatically cycling the fuser and keeping it in
a "baking" state, the unit powers down and requires
the user to put up with the 30 second delay again.
If the old method of keeping the fuser close to
operating temperature was used, there would be
no 30 second delay for the first sheet.

So the above spec makes sense, but as a user, I would
have appreciated a statement about "electrical requirements
during warmup period". Which would justify "minimum recommended
circuit capacity" statement. It's possible the above
electrical table is just a bad characterization,
a fabrication intended to fool people into thinking
it wasn't a power pig. I'm sure the moment to moment
power usage, would not follow that smooth of a curve,
so the "average" quoted above, has a rather large
variance.

*******

This is the kind of surge suppressor I've used in the past.
The design has been changed, since I used this. It used to
have two RJ-11 connectors on the side, so that it would
also perform suppression for a phone line (like, your fax
machine or dialup modem, incoming line). Since of course,
nobody faxes any more (/sarcasm), they removed that feature.
The price on these is also a bit lower than it used to be.
These are available with up to eight outlets, and a
ridiculously long code. The four hole one I used, the cord
might have been six to eight feet.

Tripplite surge suppressor isobar
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-ISO.../dp/B0000513O4


You can see in the photo here, there are some metal channels
underneath. I cannot find a bottom view of the unit, but
there should be four screw holes. On the desktop furniture
I installed this on, I think I drilled four holes on the
side of the desk, put the Tripplite on the side, and the
mounting rails have holes for the panhead screw heads to
go through. Then the unit lowers down, and the screw heads
are "trapped" in the plate. (You have to lift upwards again,
to unmount the thing.) In the same way that some wall
clocks slide down over a screw head. This secures the
unit to the side of the desk, so it requires no surface
space. Whether this is a good idea, depends on what your
installation area looks like.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/12-120-531-Z02?$S640$

The unit has a right angle power plug, but it's a different
shape than the one I got. The three prong pattern doesn't point
straight down. This is for putting the plug behind furniture,
but by shaping it the way they did, only half the customers
are going to like the angle of departure (departure angle
45 degrees right and down, flat against wall). Having the
cord run straight down the wall would have been better,
pleasing all customers a little bit.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! This looks like the current version of a surge
protector I've used for several years for other devices--the Tripp-Lite
Isotel Ultra. It's good to know I can plug the printer into it. I'll
order one today.

Jo-Anne

On 5/9/2015 7:07 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
On Sat, 09 May 2015 17:56:34 -0500, Jo-Anne
wrote:


Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?


Unless you spend a lot of money for a surge protector ($100 or so),
most of them are little more than fancy extension cords. It hardly
matters which you buy.

If you want real protection, buy a UPS (preferably by APC) rather than
a surge protector.


Thank you, Ken. I fried a UPS (by APC) by using it for the laser
printer, so I suspect I shouldn't try that again.

Jo-Anne

On 5/9/2015 8:00 PM, Paul in Houston TX wrote:
Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power
strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

It comes down to how well you want to protect the device.
Specs show the 4100N draws 385 watts normal operations, so assume
about 4 amps at 120v. 4100 plain draws slightly less.
We install Tripp Lite ISOBAR4 ULTRA units on our industrial equipment.
If it were mine and I wanted to keep it, that is what I would get.
I don't see any reason to use a UPS on a printer, but if you do
then 600 watts minimum to account for printer start up surge.
A good UPS will cost more than a new printer.


Thank you, Paul! Looks like I'll be ordering the Tripp Lite Isobar Ultra.

Jo-Anne

Thank you! I do love my HP 4100 so will buy the Tripp Lite surge
protector suggested by earlier posters.

Jo-Anne

On 5/9/2015 10:50 PM, R. C. White wrote:
Hi, Jo-Anne.

In 1985, I bought what Xerox said was the first Xerox 4045 laser printer
delivered in Oklahoma. This was for me to print income tax returns that
looked as good as the ones my former partnership in California had had
prepared by the CompuTax service bureau. The 4045 cost me over $5,000,
and I wanted to protect it so I plugged it into the Uninterruptible
Power Supply that I was using for my computer and other office
equipment. This was a big unit for a small office: an Electro-Safe
7000 that weighed a TON and cost me over $500 in 1985 dollars. But
every time I tried to print with the 4045. the printer just lost power
and died. Then the UPS died, too. I'm an accountant, not an
electrician or techie of any kind. When I called the UPS maker, the
technician said, in a stunned tone of voice, "You could not have killed
that UPS more surely if you had tried intentionally!"

I used that printer for several years; even brought it to Texas when I
moved here in 1990. But I always plugged it into the wall receptacle!
And, using a custom-designed character set. it produced beautiful tax
returns!

For the past few years I've used an HP inkjet printer (currently an
8610) - which my APC ES-750 BPS can handle easily.

RC
-- -- R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2012 (Build 16.4.3528.0331) in Win8.1 Pro w/Media Center


"Jo-Anne" wrote in message ...

Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

On 5/10/2015 1:46 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
On 5/9/2015 6:49 PM, GlowingBlueMist wrote:
On 5/9/2015 5:56 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Many years ago, when I purchased my HP Laserjet 4100, I fried a UPS by
plugging the printer into it. From that time on, I always plugged it
directly into a wall outlet. The printer is still working--now with my
new Windows 7 laptop--and I would like to give it at least minimal
protection with a surge protector. I checked the manual, and HP
recommended plugging it into either an AC outlet or a grounded power
strip.

Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne


You should be able to use almost any plug-in surge suppressor as long as
it does not include any form of battery backup.

What ever works for a PC or TV will also work for a home printer. Those
outlet strip versions work nice as long as the outlet it is plugged into
is properly grounded. The higher Joules rating the better but that does
tend to raise the cost some.

I personally like Tripp Lite or APC brands but Belkin is also a good one
from what I've seen. I had an insurance company buy me a case of Tripp
Lite units after an apartment had a near miss with a lightning strike,
that fried the appliances plugged in, like refrigerator, TV, Circuit
breaker box, and so on. The only thing that survived was my PC that was
plugged into a strip style surge supressor. The supressor melted but
protected my PC before it melted. My old style light bulbs went off
like flash bulbs, those with the lamp turned on or off. The surge was
large enough that the switches basically did not exist.


Thank you! That's certainly a good recommendation for using a surge
protector. I guess I should get some for the kitchen appliances too.

Jo-Anne
I would not go overboard on the surge protectors for most appliances but
would rather suggest the installation of a whole house surge protector.
The new units work pretty well and will assist in protecting most of
the stuff in a normal house, like dryers, refrigerators, and the like.

Here is one example of what I'm talking about.
http://www.smarthome.com/whole-house...protector.html

These normally take an electrician to install (about 2 hours labor) at
your breaker box. You still need to use the strip protectors you are
already considering for computers or other sensitive electronics. You
do need two empty places in the breaker panel in order for one to be
installed as they normally use 2 dedicated 20amp breakers or a one
double pole breaker.

These were not as commonly available like they are now when my place had
the melt down or else the insurance company would have put one of them
in and saved themselves a chunk of change and not paid for the case of
the strip protectors.

On Sun, 10 May 2015 01:54:58 -0500, Jo-Anne
wrote:

On 5/9/2015 7:07 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
On Sat, 09 May 2015 17:56:34 -0500, Jo-Anne
wrote:


Can I plug it into a surge protector instead without affecting either
the printer or the surge protector? If so, which surge protectors are
likely to be better than most for this use?


Unless you spend a lot of money for a surge protector ($100 or so),
most of them are little more than fancy extension cords. It hardly
matters which you buy.

If you want real protection, buy a UPS (preferably by APC) rather than
a surge protector.


Thank you, Ken. I fried a UPS (by APC) by using it for the laser
printer, so I suspect I shouldn't try that again.


Sorry, I guess I missed that. No, you don't need a UPS for a printer
and shouldn't use it for that. But I don't understand why it fried the
UPS.

A "fancy extension cord" should be fine for the printer.