Protecting Your Computer with a Surge Protector
If you own high end or even moderately expensive electronic devices, it’s a good idea to be concerned about protecting them from power spikes and overloads. A high quality surge protector will help keep your expensive equipment safe. Here’s some tips.
No matter what kind of electronic device you have, you can protect it from the ups, downs, and surges of electricity. If the electrical current is not regulated, you can literally fry electronic components, such as your computer, television, stereo sound system, VCR or DVD player.
The earliest form of protection for electrical and electronic devices consisted of simple fuses. A fuse is basically just a current sensitive wire. It works by heating up and burning through when a certain level of electrical current is reached, thus opening the circuit. The disadvantages of fuses include not being sensitive to very short power spikes, plus having to be replaced every time they blow. Some surge protectors still include simple fuses. Modern surge protectors do things a fuse alone simply cannot. A quality surge protector can be reset over and over. It may also be able to ’smooth out’ moderate variations in voltage.
A surge protector also comes with an added feature; you usually can add six or more electronic devices to one protector. Most electrical outlets only have two outlets to plug in. With a surge protector, you can plug in six or more devices into your surge protector using only one outlet. With so many electronic devices in the home, people often need extra outlets.
Computer users should be especially concerned with using quality surge protection. The better products will protect dial-up or DSL users from voltage spikes from their phone line. Some higher-end models even include a ‘UPS’ or Uninterruptible Power Supply. This will let the computer user continue to work for a short amount of time even if AC current is interrupted or ‘goes out’. This lets you save valuable work before your computer shuts down.
Most high end surge protectors include a guarantee that if equipment is damaged because of surge protector failure, they will replace your equipment. Depending on the quality of the surge protector, the amount of insurance can be 10K up to one million dollars. So if you want piece of mind regarding your electronic devices, look into protection with a surge protector.