Lightning Surge Protector - Is Using It Worth It?
|
|
The market has a lot of competing products when it comes to lightning surge protectors. But the question is, it is worth buying and using it or not?
The answer into the question actually depends in the current situation of the area that you intend of using the device. If your place experiences weak forms of lightning and they don't often hit the ground then the answer can be "yes". However, the answer is "no" if powerful lightning do often occur.
What exactly is a lightning surge protector?
A lightning surge protector is an electronic device that is used to protect household equipment such as your television set, computer, microwaves and etc... When a lightning actually hit your house or the power lines connecting into your house, the electric current source from your house's outlet will dramatically increase.
You have to know that all electronic equipment or appliances around your house has a voltage and current limit. When their limit of capacity has exceeded, they will endure serious damages. As a result, you will end up spending money either for the repair or for buying a new replacement.
Lightning surge protector actually works in a way that it detects excess voltage. Once an excess voltage has been detected, the surge protector will divert the extra electricity via a wire that connects down in to the ground (also known as "grounding"). It is for this reason that, all surge protectors must be properly plugged from the outlet and well grounded for them to work.
You cannot buy plenty of surge protector and install them to every electronic devices around your house. This will cost you a lot of money. What you should do is to use surge protectors only to those specific electronic components that are sensitive to surges.
One good example of a sensitive component is a computer. You have to know that a computer is made up of several sensitive electronic parts that can get easily damage from a surge. If your computer got damaged from a powerful surge, there is a possibility that all your saved data will be destroyed and cannot be recovered.
Why lightning surge protector is not worth using?
As already mentioned above, a lightning surge protector is not worth using if you are situated at a place where powerful form of lightning do often occur. An ordinary surge protector won't definitely able to prevent or stop violent and catastrophic burst of current caused by a powerful lightning.
A "Lightning Rod System" is a better option than the surge protector. However, there are still some chances that a lightning rod system will fail to absorbed and divert a direct strike down into its "conducive grid" disposal. Thus, a 100% absolutely guarantee of protection against damages from sensitive electronic components is not always guaranteed.
The Best Method
The only best possible way to protect your expensive electronic components around your house during powerful lightning occurrences is to unplug them all. You have to unplug all the power which is even way much better if you can do it from the main Circuit Breaker. Also, don't forget to include the telephone modem and antenna connections.
In addition to unplugging everything, you should also make sure that you have the insurance that covers lightning damages. Make an effort creating an inventory list of all your insured expensive electronic components that can be replaced.
For computers, you may have the insurance upon its damages but the risk is that, you will probably lose important files or data stored from its hard drive. Thus, you should always consider performing regular backups storing a copy of your most important files or data from an external hard drive or USB.
Overall, there has been a number of individuals who are not satisfied relying on their lightning surge protector for protection. In my own opinion, most lightning surge protectors on the market today has several flaws that still needs a lot of room for improvement. Anyway, maybe sometime in the future inventors can find a guaranteed solutions for protection against lightning surges.
The answer into the question actually depends in the current situation of the area that you intend of using the device. If your place experiences weak forms of lightning and they don't often hit the ground then the answer can be "yes". However, the answer is "no" if powerful lightning do often occur.
What exactly is a lightning surge protector?
A lightning surge protector is an electronic device that is used to protect household equipment such as your television set, computer, microwaves and etc... When a lightning actually hit your house or the power lines connecting into your house, the electric current source from your house's outlet will dramatically increase.
You have to know that all electronic equipment or appliances around your house has a voltage and current limit. When their limit of capacity has exceeded, they will endure serious damages. As a result, you will end up spending money either for the repair or for buying a new replacement.
Lightning surge protector actually works in a way that it detects excess voltage. Once an excess voltage has been detected, the surge protector will divert the extra electricity via a wire that connects down in to the ground (also known as "grounding"). It is for this reason that, all surge protectors must be properly plugged from the outlet and well grounded for them to work.
Appliances Or Equipment That Are Worth Protecting
You cannot buy plenty of surge protector and install them to every electronic devices around your house. This will cost you a lot of money. What you should do is to use surge protectors only to those specific electronic components that are sensitive to surges.
One good example of a sensitive component is a computer. You have to know that a computer is made up of several sensitive electronic parts that can get easily damage from a surge. If your computer got damaged from a powerful surge, there is a possibility that all your saved data will be destroyed and cannot be recovered.
Why lightning surge protector is not worth using?
As already mentioned above, a lightning surge protector is not worth using if you are situated at a place where powerful form of lightning do often occur. An ordinary surge protector won't definitely able to prevent or stop violent and catastrophic burst of current caused by a powerful lightning.
A "Lightning Rod System" is a better option than the surge protector. However, there are still some chances that a lightning rod system will fail to absorbed and divert a direct strike down into its "conducive grid" disposal. Thus, a 100% absolutely guarantee of protection against damages from sensitive electronic components is not always guaranteed.
The Best Method
The only best possible way to protect your expensive electronic components around your house during powerful lightning occurrences is to unplug them all. You have to unplug all the power which is even way much better if you can do it from the main Circuit Breaker. Also, don't forget to include the telephone modem and antenna connections.
In addition to unplugging everything, you should also make sure that you have the insurance that covers lightning damages. Make an effort creating an inventory list of all your insured expensive electronic components that can be replaced.
For computers, you may have the insurance upon its damages but the risk is that, you will probably lose important files or data stored from its hard drive. Thus, you should always consider performing regular backups storing a copy of your most important files or data from an external hard drive or USB.
Overall, there has been a number of individuals who are not satisfied relying on their lightning surge protector for protection. In my own opinion, most lightning surge protectors on the market today has several flaws that still needs a lot of room for improvement. Anyway, maybe sometime in the future inventors can find a guaranteed solutions for protection against lightning surges.
0 comments:
Post a Comment