Authorized advice for power conditioner for new laptop

Winuser · 15 Jul 2020

TechWizard said:

Thank you all very much for your comments! As you can tell, I am still learning. I haven't had a brand new laptop since '01 and I cannot remember if I kept that plugged in at the house while doing homework or not. The saying "Together, we know more" is very true.

TechWizard

The wife and I keep our laptops plugged in when we are using them at home.

TechWizard · 16 Jul 2020

Okay, this is interesting. A number of you have reached out to me on this thread indicating that 'we leave our laptops plugged in'. We know not to leave electronics plugged in during thunderstorms. Nevertheless, would any one who recently posted their thoughts about leaving their laptops plugged in like to share whether or not you use a surge protector? If so, what kind? Please include make and model no. and a few pros about it?

Thanks,
TechWizard

Winuser · 16 Jul 2020

TechWizard said:

Okay, this is interesting. A number of you have reached out to me on this thread indicating that 'we leave our laptops plugged in'. We know not to leave electronics plugged in during thunderstorms. Nevertheless, would any one who recently posted their thoughts about leaving their laptops plugged in like to share whether or not you use a surge protector? If so, what kind? Please include make and model no. and a few pros about it?

Thanks,
TechWizard

Our laptops are used in different rooms and outlets so we just use the power adapters that came with the laptops. On the two desktops we use APC Back-UPS ES 600G battery backups.

NavyLCDR · 16 Jul 2020

My house has a whole house EMS module in the main breaker panel. I'd have to pull the cover off the panel to determine the make and model of it, though. The previous owner of the house installed it, and I've actually seen it once when an electrician was adding a circuit for me.

Brink · 20 Jul 2020

TechWizard said:

Okay, this is interesting. A number of you have reached out to me on this thread indicating that 'we leave our laptops plugged in'. We know not to leave electronics plugged in during thunderstorms. Nevertheless, would any one who recently posted their thoughts about leaving their laptops plugged in like to share whether or not you use a surge protector? If so, what kind? Please include make and model no. and a few pros about it?

Thanks,
TechWizard

Hello TechWizard,

Depending on your needs and how often your electrical service spikes and dips, a surge protect with a line/power conditioner would be a good option. The line conditioner feature will cost more than a stander surge protector, but it will protect anything plugged into it better. You do need to have it plugged into a grounded outlet though.

If you like, here are some example at Amazon.

Robot Check

TechWizard · 21 Jul 2020

Brink said:

Hello TechWizard,

Depending on your needs and how often your electrical service spikes and dips, a surge protect with a line/power conditioner would be a good option. The line conditioner feature will cost more than a stander surge protector, but it will protect anything plugged into it better. You do need to have it plugged into a grounded outlet though.

If you like, here are some example at Amazon.

Robot Check

Brink said:

Hello TechWizard,

Depending on your needs and how often your electrical service spikes and dips, a surge protect with a line/power conditioner would be a good option. The line conditioner feature will cost more than a stander surge protector, but it will protect anything plugged into it better. You do need to have it plugged into a grounded outlet though.

If you like, here are some example at Amazon.

Robot Check

Thank you for your feedback, Brink. Earlier in this thread, I indicated that I was considering the PST-8 or the PST-8DIG. These products offer extreme voltage shutdown (EVS), SMP, LiFT, etc. More recently, I came across the AC Surge Protector SPD SL Strip 120 Vac Single-Phase 15 A SASD 1.5 kA 1101-058.
I did find a little more information about ideal surge suppressors exclusively for laptops. How do I Choose the Best Laptop Surge Protector?]this site had more insight.

Brink · 21 Jul 2020

Furman is a good brand. I didn't see anything different in the specs for the two models you listed though.

TechWizard · 22 Jul 2020

The following is from an email message that I received from transtector:

Just an update… All Surge Protection technologies, including SASD technology, can self-sacrifice if they experience a surge event that exceeds its designed capabilities.

SASD technology is Non-Degradable, which is not the same thing as indestructible.

Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) technology is degradable (wears out a bit after each surge event), and is a very common technology used with Power Strips, especially for such strips
Purchased at big box stores.

All Transtector plug-in surge protectors use 100% SASD technology.

I attached a better Engineering Document focusing on part# 1101-058, which shows the Maximum Voltage Protection Level (VPL) which is the Clamping Voltage, is: 330V peak, lower
Than 350-400Vac.

Granted, part# 1101-058 turns on at less-than 5 nano-seconds.

Please refer to the second attached document from Eaton (a competitor). Go to page 8 where the cut-paste section shared below came from:

NEMA LS-1 (and other organizations) do not recommend Joule ratings or response time as a performance criteria for SPDs

Granted, you want the surge arrestor to react faster than, or at-least as fast-as a surge event, such as from lightning. Note that Lightning is a Micro-Second event. Since part# 1101-058
Turns-on at less than 5 Nano-Seconds, part# 1101-058 reacts much faster than a Lightning event, and the difference of 4 Nano-Seconds isn’t very much of a difference; 5 Nano-Seconds (Less-Than regarding
Part# 1101-058) is faster than Micro-Seconds, so part# 1101-058 will consistently react to Lightning events indefinitely, or until a Direct Strike takes it out (most strikes are Near Strikes, fyi).

With this information, this thread is now solved. Thank you to everyone for their feedback!

Cheers,
TechWizard

SoFine409 · 22 Jul 2020

NavyLCDR said:

My house has a whole house EMS module in the main breaker panel. I'd have to pull the cover off the panel to determine the make and model of it, though. The previous owner of the house installed it, and I've actually seen it once when an electrician was adding a circuit for me.

I had one added to my main panel a few years ago. It’s physically attached to the exterior of the panel and is wired to a spare breaker thru a knockout. The brand is Eaton (Cutler-Hammer), a well known commercial brand.

davefaz · 22 Jul 2020

My computers ( and I have a lot ) have always been plugged in all the time thunderstorms or not. It is true that many years ago computers where readily damaged by weird power goings on, but these days it just doesn't happen. I don't know but I would guess that is in part more robust designs and generally better power supplies. I am pretty sure that modern power supplies must have built in protection of some sort or people would be returning broken computers all the times.