[SOLVED] Should I Upgrade My Wall Tap Surge Protectors?

[Appletax]

Solution:

Best (whole house): The absolute best, by far.

Siemens FS140 Whole House Surge Protection.

2nd best (UPS):

Active / line interactive (not standby) uninterruptible power supply: CyberPower Pure Sinewave.

3rd best (strip):

Plugable Surge Protector - 4,320 joules.

Extreme: Monster Power Center Vertex XL - 5,000 joules.

Cheaper alternative: Amazonbasics 12 outlet - 4,320 joules.

4th best (wall tap):

MONSTER WALL TAP SURGE PROTECTOR - POWER SURGE PRO - 1,200 joules.

Cheaper alternative: GE Wall Tap - 1,020 joules.


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I have 4 of these:

Amazon.com: GE home electrical, White, GE Pro 6 Surge Protector Tap with Swivel, 90 Degree Rotating Outlets, 1080 Joules, 37736 : Electronics

Amazon.com: GE home electrical, White, GE Pro 6 Surge Protector Tap with Swivel, 90 Degree Rotating Outlets, 1080 Joules, 37736 : Electronics

www.amazon.com

I need a few more.

Should I replace them with this, which has 2x the joules protection?

Monoprice 6-Outlet Rotating Wall Tap Surge Protector, 2160 Joules, Clamping Voltage 500V - Monoprice.com

Obsidian™ Series Rotating Surge Protectors safeguard your electronic devices from power surges and spikes. The patented rotating outlet design allows you to plug in bulky adapters without blocki

www.monoprice.com

A direct hit to my house by lightning would probably fry everything. Sounds like I would need a whole house protector device to save everything.

 

[Fred Claus]

What do you have plugged into them currently and how old are they? I would consider changing them if the joules are not high enough to secure everything that's in them.

 

[phaZed]

Surge protectors are largely BS. Get a battery backup for real protection.

The Joule rating isn't for the devices connected, it's for the amount of energy the surge protector can "absorb". What's equally important is clamping voltage, which is usually not mentioned. A 2000J protector is good for protecting small appliances like blenders, ink jet printers and routers. But really, unless you have a "device" in your house that is causing major spikes in your electrical lines (Spikes, not dips!) then there is really no reason for a surge protector except to give you extra outlets. If you have a device making over 330V during it's turn-on - it's likely you have a more serious issue at play with either the device or the site wiring.

Nothing is going to protect against a lightning strike except for a whole-home or whole-building solution.

I would also recommend NEVER buying a strip that has pivoting outlets as the OP has pictured. At worst, it uses a 'clockspring' mechanism where two prongs ride along a circular ring (like a car steering wheel) - but those have poor amp ratings and make relatively poor contact. The best case scenario is it's wired to those pivot points - but then that makes vulnerable the internal wiring from flexing back and forth.
Generally, "non-moving" surge protectors will use "bus bars" along the entire length, leaving little room for a high resistance, fire hazard.

 

[Sky-Knight]

What @phaZed said and while you're at it, make sure the UPS is line interactive, standby UPSs are junk.

 

[phaZed]

What @phaZed said and while you're at it, make sure the UPS is line interactive, standby UPSs are junk.

Good point, ya, make sure it's an active model.. the standby ones are have one focus - "Keep it on". Pretty ironic, really.... "Keeping it on" during the most likely time for a spike without protection... recipe for disaster.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Good point, ya, make sure it's an active model.. the standby ones are have one focus - "Keep it on". Pretty ironic, really.... "Keeping it on" during the most likely time for a spike without protection... recipe for disaster.

And electrically the devices are powered by the mains until the power goes out.

So now not only do you have the inverter delay before the switch is thrown... which causes more sensitive devices to lose power for a moment, but you also have a surge bypassing the UPS and hitting the equipment.

Line interactive units run everything off the inverter all the time, the mains are just there to charge the batteries. And since the devices are always pulling from the batteries, all the unit has to do is pop off the mains for a moment to find out if the battery is dead. Most of them do this once a month or so.

So yeah, they cost more... But, they actually protect equipment. Standby units just don't, I rip those out and replace them with surge strips, at least then users know what they're getting. Clients that go cheap and put in standby units might save some work in a power failure, but invariably a year or so later I'm getting calls because the computer won't turn on... Usually because the UPS's battery died, and always during storm. Huge waste of money!

 

[nlinecomputers]

Nothing is going to protect against a lightning strike except for a whole-home or whole-building solution.

and even that doesn't work all the time. Had a client with a lightning arrester who must of had the line going into his home take a direct hit because it jumped the arrester and fried his HVAC system most of his kitchen appliances, set fire to his roof, blew the alarm system. Amazingly most of his electronic gadgets like computers and the TVs survived. His kitchen and aircon took most of the hit.

 

[britechguy]

and even that doesn't work all the time.

I've really come to believe that trying to prevent damage from a lightning strike anywhere nearby that has a "direct electrical route" into your home is just not going to happen. It's a false sense of security. If the hit is "three doors down" or "the electrical pole down at the corner" you have some chance, perhaps, but otherwise, consider it fried.

Yet another reason not to leave local backup drives connected unless you're doing a backup or recovery.

 

[Appletax]

This is probably the best wall tap:

Monster-Essentials-5003

MONSTER WALL TAP SURGE PROTECTOR - POWER SURGE PRO

Monster Wall Tap Surge Protector - Power Surge Pro

MULTIPLE WALL OUTLETS: Our safe wall tap surge protector can protect for up to 6 AC, 1 USB-C and 1 USB-A with up to 1,200 joule energy rating; choose our 1-side pivot plug for multidirectional plugging SAFETY GUARANTEED: Safeguards your electronics and equipment from permanent damage due to...

monsterstore.com

1,200 joules = most I've seen for a wall tap. No swivel/rotating parts.

Special fireproof mov technology. Filters/cleans dirty power.

 

[Appletax]

What @phaZed said and while you're at it, make sure the UPS is line interactive, standby UPSs are junk.

They're basically a grand

Smart App Online Archives

CyberPower Smart App Online rack/tower UPS models with double conversion topology provide sine wave output to enterprise UPS installations.

www.cyberpowersystems.com

Per CyberPower customer service:

The Smart App Online series would be what you are looking for. These units have the double conversion topology feature which constantly uses the battery to provide clean power.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Appletax Look harder? https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/intelligent-lcd/cp1500avrlcd/

Online/Standby -> Line Interactive -> Double Conversion

Double Conversion is for audiophiles and medical equipment, we don't need that for anything else. Line Interactive is harder to get at a low price point, and the above is the cheapest UPS I know that does it.

 

[Appletax]

@Appletax Look harder? https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/intelligent-lcd/cp1500avrlcd/

Online/Standby -> Line Interactive -> Double Conversion

Double Conversion is for audiophiles and medical equipment, we don't need that for anything else. Line Interactive is harder to get at a low price point, and the above is the cheapest UPS I know that does it.

Thank you. I didn't know this. Thank God you don't have to spend a grand to get a good UPS.

Customer service was correct but should have also mentioned the line interactive units as well. They are both active.

 

[britechguy]

@Appletax Look harder? https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/intelligent-lcd/cp1500avrlcd/

No criticism of yourself, or that the product does what you're focusing on, but for me a 12 minute run time would be worthless in most instances were I to need a UPS. If power goes out either during sleeping hours or when I'm in a meeting 12 minutes of time is not likely to be anywhere near close enough of a "keep afloat" time. (Unless that's not what those half/full time numbers mean [and those appear to be flipped, as I'd imagine longer would be the "full" state of charge and shorter the "half."])

That's something that needs to be a part of the considerations, too, and I'm afraid it may be overlooked if not mentioned.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy It was just an example, it can be VERY hard to find a line interactive UPS with online tools. The unit I linked is simply something that's usable even in ugly power circumstances.

As for the runtime, that unit has a single 12v 9ah battery in it. The runtime at "half load" is 12min, but it's also a 1500va unit. A single desktop isn't 1500va anymore... That's 108wah of power. How long it will last depends on the needs of the equipment you attach to it. I have a Dell Optiplex behind me that runs on a 130w DC adapter. Assuming it was pulling 130w of power, that's still almost 45min of battery. With an LCD on it I'd say this unit would probably last 20min or so.

But even if it isn't, assuming you've got the USB plugged in like you should, just 5min is PLENTY to have a modern machine go into hibernation before it powers off. Which will save all work, and have things back to "normal" once power is restored.

So be careful of that time based thinking... because the spec sheets are just not enough data to know how long a UPS will last. That space is far more art than science because we never really know how much a device is going to consume. Especially with modern machines being so darned power efficient and simply turning off bits of themselves as they operate normally.

But yes, for my own self? I have a 2200va unit that has FOUR of those batteries in it, and it can hold up my entire office for 45min. But that's also $1000 device.

 

[britechguy]

@Sky-Knight

I guess it really depends on your practices (as so much does, for any one of us).

When any unit (be it desktop or laptop) is running on AC power my usual practice is to choose "Never" for when to sleep. Has been for many, many years. On battery power gets something else for laptops, but if I recall correctly even on my Windows 11 desktop, battery power options don't exist if the unit doesn't have a built-in battery.

My concern would mainly be about desktop units, many of which will have extended times before sleeping when idle if they ever do. But I guess if I were in a situation where I was using a UPS, and I haven't been in ages, I would probably set sleep on a desktop unit after a relatively short period of inactivity. Waking up from sleep is so fast that it makes perfect sense to do that. I just don't as a general matter.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy You and me both actually!

I have a powershell script that runs via my RMM that enforces the use of the high performance power profile, and it also resets that power profile every so often to undo the stupid things people tend to do to it.

That profile by default is set to sleep never. But that has nothing to do with the ability of the machine to be put to sleep, which the battery can do via separate configuration. Windows actually does this by default, so you don't even have to tell it to do anything. It's part of all of the power profiles, but you're right... you won't see those details unless Windows sees a battery on the system.

Most UPS's are detected automatically these days, and Windows all but becomes a laptop when you connect a proper UPS to it.

So you can have a machine that never sleeps, but will do so in a power emergency. In fact, if you enable the high performance power profile this behavior is default behavior.

APC has their own software that has even more control. I think Cyberpower does too... but I don't tend to use that one. Those units are cheap and put on desktops to save work in the event of power issues. I have several clients in buildings that have regular problems with momentary brownouts. The above unit is perfect for those.