portable surge protectors

Message

Blake · #1 Post by **Blake** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 3:03 am

Well im looking for a small single prong surge protector for when i move around with the thinkpad. i have bad luck with things getting zapped , and to plug in for an hour to get a charge is not worth cooking my x.

anyone know of any good ones?

DavidNZ · #2 Post by **DavidNZ** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:38 am

These are great. I've got this one: http://tinyurl.com/4s2n8 but it's AUS/NZ.

Radio Shack has http://tinyurl.com/5abng

Looks OK.

Blake · #3 Post by **Blake** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 1:10 pm

thanks man

JHEM · #4 Post by **JHEM** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 1:29 pm

They're worthless Blake. The only surge protector that makes sense for a laptop is one on the modem line if you're connected to a phone line.

The rest of the time the power brick will suffice to give you at least as much protection as a portable surge protector while on AC.

Regards,

James

Blake · #5 Post by **Blake** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 1:42 pm

i just have bad luck with things not on surge protectors. ie sub last week, tv when i was younger.

i just want something that no matter where im at i have some type of protection and its not huge.

does the oem powerbrick have protection buitl into it

JHEM · #6 Post by **JHEM** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 1:10 am

Blake,

The power brick is a transformer, one of the best devices for stopping transients and spikes on AC lines.

If a surge were to occur that was able to get past the brick, it will also be able to get past a portable surge protector.

Regards,

James

DavidNZ · #7 Post by **DavidNZ** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 2:56 am

JHEM wrote:Blake,

The power brick is a transformer, one of the best devices for stopping transients and spikes on AC lines.

If a surge were to occur that was able to get past the brick, it will also be able to get past a portable surge protector.

Regards,

James

Interesting. Ya learn something new everyday!

The other day, my wife and I were in the lounge watching some (bad) TV, when the lights started to dip and dim a bit. Knowing that my notebook was actually running in the back room, I ran to unplug it. She couldn't quite figure out what the h*ll I was doing!

mattfromomaha · #8 Post by **mattfromomaha** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 10:39 am

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... CurrId=73

This is the one I use - I find it very handy as it is "in-line" with the power brick.

wearetheborg · #9 Post by **wearetheborg** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 5:55 pm

JHEM wrote:They're worthless Blake. The only surge protector that makes sense for a laptop is one on the modem line if you're connected to a phone line.

The rest of the time the power brick will suffice to give you at least as much protection as a portable surge protector while on AC.

Regards,

James

I'm connected via DSL
Phone line ->DSL modem -> Router -> laptop wired connection.

Is my laptop at risk, or only the dsl modem or all ?

pianowizard · #10 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:33 am

JHEM wrote:If a surge were to occur that was able to get past the brick, it will also be able to get past a portable surge protector.

Yes, but it should still be safer to have two lines of defense than just one, i.e. two low-pass filters connected in series offer more protection than one. Also, many surge suppressors provide lifetime insurance (up to a certain dollar amount, like $10K) against damages to you equipment. So, I still think it's worth getting one for laptops.

I bought a tiny portable surge suppressor about five years ago but I don't remember the manufacturer's name. It was around $30.

mattbiernat · #11 Post by **mattbiernat** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:22 pm

JHEM wrote:Blake,

The power brick is a transformer, one of the best devices for stopping transients and spikes on AC lines.

If a surge were to occur that was able to get past the brick, it will also be able to get past a portable surge protector.

Regards,

James

sorry i don't know much about surge protectors. but wouldn't the best surge protector be a simple fuse. that way when anything over 110V~120V is detected the fuse blows and stops any current whatsoever. I know we had something like this in my phisical lab.

#12 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:59 pm

wearetheborg wrote:I'm connected via DSL
Phone line ->DSL modem -> Router -> laptop wired connection.

Is my laptop at risk, or only the dsl modem or all ?

Generally speaking, I would say everything connected to your phone line is at risk, although the farther removed the equipment, the less is the risk to it. If you live in an area with overhead phone lines, lightning could strike the phone line and travel to your ThinkPad. You can get surge protectors that include a phone line jack. Plug your phone line into the surge protector line in jack, and the DSL modem into the line out jack.

I don't think anything will protect your equipment from a direct lightning stike on a line near your house, but as pianowizard points out, these surge protectors/suppressors/arrestors often include equipment insurance.

#13 Post by **bill bolton** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:36 pm

Most physically small surge protectors have breadown devices, such as MOVs, in them which will quickly react to a big dV/dt event (that is, a high amplititude spike) on the power line and simply shunt it to ground, or to the return side of the line.

This is something that a fuse, or the switched mode power supply in a ThinkPad power brick is basically incapable of doing.

Physically small surge protectors will not protect you from extreme events, such a the spike variations in the ground plane potential that a close-by lightening strike will induce, but they are effective against a variety of long-line-incident induced spikes and more distant lightening strike effects.

Physically small surge protectors are usually "one shot" devices. They will destroy their own active components while providing protection against a large spike for downsteram devices, so the surge protector will need to be replaced afterwards.

Anyway, in North America look for at least a UL 1449 rating on physically small surge protection devices.

Cheers,

Bill B.

Magic Wonder425 · #14 Post by **Magic Wonder425** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:52 pm

What's a quality surge protector for cheap?

My home has one, but I have to move into a dorm soon and would like to take one with me.

#15 Post by **bill bolton** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:35 am

Magic Wonder425 wrote:What's a quality surge protector for cheap?

Here's one that works.... http://www.thenerds.net/BELKIN_Belkin_U ... 791C8.html

Here's the documentation for it.... http://www.belkin.com/support/article/? ... 895&scid=0

Please particularly note....

Belkin wrote:The “Protected” light should be illuminated during use. If this light goes out at any time while in use, your Travel Surge Protector has sacrificed itself to protect your equipment and should be replaced. Please contact Belkin Corporation for a free replacement Travel Surge Protector.

Also note the C8 model is for a two pin style cord while the C6 is for a three pin style cord.

Cheers,

Bill

#16 Post by **bill bolton** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 6:46 am

For Australian readers, this eBay auction has the above Belkin surge protector at a very attractive Buy It Now price in local terms....

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Belkin-Notebook- ... dZViewItem

I've just bought 3 but have no other connection with this auction, so make your own assessment of the overall offer.

Cheers,

Bill B.

Magic Wonder425 · #17 Post by **Magic Wonder425** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:50 pm

bill bolton wrote:Here's one that works.... http://www.thenerds.net/BELKIN_Belkin_U ... 791C8.html

Here's the documentation for it.... http://www.belkin.com/support/article/? ... 895&scid=0

Cheers,

Bill

Hey thanks a lot.

portable surge protectors

portable surge protectors

Who is online