Re: Surge Protection?

["w_tom" <w_tom1@xxxxxxx>]

  Electricity does not change in third world countries.  Five
electrical problems are blackouts, brownouts, harmonics, noise, and
surges.  The plug-in UPS only addresses two: blackouts and brownouts.

  For example, numbers cited by Mike Sokoly from C62.41 put surges in
the microsecond category.  That Cyberpower UPS connects a load directly
to AC mains when not in battery backup mode.  It specs 4 milliseconds
to transfer to batteries.  IOW 100 consecutive surges could have passed
through adjacent electronics, causing damage, before the UPS
disconnected from AC mains and connecting to battery power.  Where is
the protection from surges?  The UPS forgets to mention that it does
not protect from a type of surge that typically damages electronics.

  Another missing spec that is probably overlooked is the expression
"simulated sine wave".  How simulated?   Maybe just like the output
describes in the earlier post: two 200 volt square waves with a spike
between those square waves.  They use the expression "simulated sine
wave" so that the naive assume this is cleaner power.  Why do we
suspect otherwise?  Notice the missing spec for Total Harmonic
Distortion.  Clean output power would be 2%.  So instead, the
Cyberpower UPS forgets to include that number.

  Brownouts causing electronics damage are myths. Brownouts can be
destructive to motors.  But industry standards even 30 years ago demand
that low voltage never cause electronic appliance damage.  What happens
when electronics are turned off?  Power to transistors slowly falls to
brownout voltages.  If brownouts were destructive, then so is power
off.  Just another reason why power off is not destructive to
electronics.

  Again more facts.  Even Intel standards demand that a computer work
just fine when line voltage drops so low that incandescant light bulbs
are at less than 40% intensity.  Should voltage drop excessively, the
computer must simply shutdown due to insufficient power.  Those who
repair computers know of the signal line in ATX power supplies that
orders a shutdown due to low voltage - and without damage. Signal is
called Power Good.  Even properly constructed computers are not harmed
by low voltage.

  Electronics were not damaged for five years.  That is proof that the
UPS was effective?  Well, destructive surges occur typically once every
eight years - a number that varies significantly with location. Five
years with no damage really proves nothing.  Furthermore, all
electronics already have some internal protection.

  Cctvbashamas has confused 'whole house' regulator with 'whole house'
protector.  Five electrical problems were defined.  The 'whole house'
protector is for surges which has nothing to do with blackout and
brownout protection provided by UPSes.  The UPS is for data or
operational protection from blackouts and brownouts.  Blackouts and
brownouts do not cause hardware damage in properly constructed
electronics.  Hardware damage created by surges is addressed by an
earthing system as described in the earlier post.  A 'system' so well
proven that earthing is standard in telco switching stations,
commerical radio stations, etc throughout the world.  Not discussed are
problems created by noise and harmonics.

cctvbahamas@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Dont know where you live, but i live in the 3rd world with ancient
> electrical, and since 1996 through all the hurricanes, lightning
> storms, daily brownouts, spikes, almost daily power outages ... only
> thing that has protected me is the Voltage Regulator, and yes, its a
> Tripplite. I have all my camera systems on APC Voltage Regulators and
> for 5 years they have never been hit. Now if you can afford a whole
> house voltage regulator then go right ahead, but for installers and to
> warranty the product a plug in voltage regulator is recommended. A UPS
> is just recommended for battery back up for PCs.