Monday, September 20, 2010

A Computer is Not a fridge

I am sick of hearing people say how could my mother board burn or how could my pc power supply burn out ...
its on the same surge protector like the fridge and the fridge alright.

First of all your fridge uses AC (Alternating Current) current straight from the socket, your pc uses DC (Direct Current). This basically means that your computer and all electronic devices in general are more sensitive to variations / fluctuations in voltage. So surges or low voltage that may affect your electronic devices (LCD TV, GAMING CONSOLES, COMPUTERS) will not necessarily affect your microwave, washing machine,refrigerator.

Optimally you should run your PC on a UPS and for those UPS which have plugs which are not attached to the battery, ensure they have AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation). A fancy way of saying that the UPS will maintain a Constant out put of say 110v regardless of the voltage coming from your supply company...(ours popdown). So if the supply is 90v or 135v the AVR feature will constantly output 110V.

A standalone voltage regulator or line conditioner is the next best thing to the ups. If you still insist on getting a surge protector for your 100k investment (LCD TV) then pay attention to the following.  Ensure that it says UL certified (L-N, L-G, N-G) and transient voltage. provides better protection against lightning strikes. The joule rating needs to be as much as the devices connected to it or higher. Basically do not plug a 400w device into 200w rated surge protector.

Response time is also very important . You could have the best features in a surge protector but if it has a slow response time it will not do you any good. If the surge protector is too slow in responding to a surge then the equipment will get damaged by the time the surge is able to activate its protection. so you want response time in nanoseconds the lower this number the better. (ANY THING LESS THAN ONE NANOSECOND IS GOOD).

Have fun. Stuff is expensive. Our power company ain't replacing shit.

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