This is a guest post by Monte Russell.
Do you live in an area that has lighting strikes all the time (almost daily) or, like me, once every two months or so?
Did you know that if lighting hits a power line it can travel up to 30 miles? And that is in a radius out from the point of the strike. (To see a frequency of strikes, look at this map.)
This is one of the reasons your electronics (not just your computer) should be protected by a surge suppressor.
I did a little research for an article on my web site about Surge Suppression and UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies) and found that surge suppressors are a little more expensive than the run of the mill power strips.
Did you know the White House has over 40,000 amp surge suppression?
You can get a single inline surge suppressor for one device, two or more, or you can get a ‘whole house/building’ surge suppression system. The amperage runs from 5 to 50,000 amps, and with the increase in protection comes cost. A small single inline surge suppressor will run you $15 to $25, depending on the amperage. While one with six sockets will cost you from $15 to $40, again depending on the amperage. A whole house/building will run you over $500, that is for electrical, telephone, and coax protection up to 50,000 amps.
While you are at it, if you live in a red zone on the map above, you may want to put some lighting rods on your house/building!
When there is a power surge there normally is a resulting power outage. So in addition to surge suppression many small to large businesses also have a UPS system to keep mission critical computers and devices online during power failures.
A UPS will have the capability to either keep the mission critical computers in operation or shut them down when the power fails. Shutting down your computer gracefully (i.e., using the shutdown command) is better than just cutting the power. If a computer loses power too many times, the hard drive(s) will become corrupt.
A UPS will also protect your computer and attached devices in the event of a Brown Out. A brown out is when the power coming from the commercial power generation station drops below 100 volts. The amperage will also be affected when this happens. When a brown out happens, normal computer functions are not affected, but any motor in the computer will not have sufficient voltage and amperage to make the motor spin. This will cause the computer to over heat and/or the hard drive to become corrupt.
The UPS will add to the incoming voltage and amperage to insure the connected devices have the required power to keep them operating safely.
Another benefit that a UPS provides is surge suppression. The very large transformer will absorb the surge keeping the attached equipment safe.
Warning: A power strip is not a surge suppressor. It is just an extension cord in a case. It does not have the ability to suppress a surge. “Ah, but, you say it has a circuit breaker!” This is true and the circuit breaker is for fire protection in case of a short or over amperage being drawn by something plugged in to the power strip. The circuit breaker can not act fast enough to stop a power surge from damaging your computer equipment.
The question is: How much is your data/computer(s) and associated peripherals worth? (Check your insurance policy. I will bet you a cup ‘o coffee that lighting strikes on your computer equipment are not covered).
About the author: Monte Russell has over 20 years of experience, and numerous degrees and certificates. He is the owner of www.diy-computer-repair.com, which provides many e-books, e-courses, and free checklists. He writes a free monthly newsletter and associated Fix It Blog, which is full of insights about computing.
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I live in a red area, and I have plenty of lightning rods. They are called trees.
They can be trouble though, when a hurricane comes calling. Looks like it won’t be Tomas calling either…
Monte talks about surge protection referencing AMPS. Most surge protectors reference JOULES. Now I’ve never been able to get a handle on what Joules are (in lay terms). Amps I understand to a certain degree. are they interchangeable when it comes to surge protection? If not, can someone translate for me. I know that the higher the protection, the better. What I don’t know is what would be recommended. Up until now, I’ve gone with trusted brands and then used price to get a mid range protrector. Thanks in advance.
Bob
A Watt is power. A Joule is Energy. A Joule is a Watt X Seconds.
Watts are units of Power, whereas Joules are units of Energy. Power is Energy in accordance to time: P = E/t . So One Watt of Power is equal to one Joule per second.
P=E/t
1 Watt = 1 Joule/ 1 second
If 1 Joule = 1 Watt – Sec.
or 1 Watt x 1 sec.
a KW-Hr. = 1000 x 3600
= 3,600,000 Joules
Does that explain it?
Joe Huard,
Thank you. Actually I was looking for the relationship between Amps and Joules. But I think, now, that Monte, in the original article, probably should have been writing Joules where he wrote Amps. It would make more sense and be consistant with your explanation.
Thank you again,
Bob