Home ›
Site Links
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
In this Discussion
Please review the site Rules, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy at your convenience. Rules, TOS, Privacy
Get familiar with the reaction system: Introducing the Reaction System
surge protectors
Hey guys.
What's a good surge protector with voltage regulator for computer gear now days? I have couple of older machines running CNC and 3D modeling and want to baby them.
Thanks.
Comments
I use APC with UPS.
I would say get the best power supply you can for the computers that will make a more noticable difference than anything external. Other than that a name brand surge protector should be fine.
The best thing you can do for any sensitive electronics is to connect them to an on-line double conversion UPS, but probably a fair bit more $ than you're looking to spend.
Perhaps something like this:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-Home-Surge-Protection-CHSPT2SURGE/207093234
Or this one you can install right in the breaker panel.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Siemens-BoltShield-QSPD-120-240V-2-Pole-Single-Phase-3-Wire-65kA-Plug-In-Surge-Protection-Device-QSPD2A065P/314210128
That boltshield looks pretty slick , I wonder how that would work with one of our PLC panels at work. Blew out two PLC components in two months due to electric company farting around with the substation down the road. Ill look into it more. Thanks
I second the recommendation about APC boxes. Gold standard. If you are really picky, you can get one with a quasi-sine wave output. You can get cheaper, but you won't ever regret this:
https://a.co/d/9yd9J0Z
I have one of those and a "desktop" one for the internet modem.
For PLC and commercial applications I have used din rail mounted TVSS devices, so you just install them next to the incoming AC in your PLC panel. Something like this:
https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/catalog/fuses-and-fuse-holders/bussmann-series-ul-type-1-surge-protective-devices.facets$1483894080$4242615.html#tab-2
Although I don't disagree on anything said. I still recommend upgrading the internal power supply. Look in any good power supply and the first things you will see are power conditioners for both voltage regulation and surge protection. But if you are running older machines chances are they are running older technology SMPS devices and old capacitors. For stability and longevity you should also consider a solid state hard drive. It shouldn't be hard to clone what you have onto a solid state and then keep the platters as a backup.
Right, if they are not laptops a good gold or platinum psu (seasonic comes to mind) would be a good investment.
Thanks dB , Ill head across the lot tomorrow and pop the panel to look , see whats in there. Sorry Roman , this was good intel for me too!
This started me down a rabbit hole on whole home surge suppressors. It looks like there are some that can go in-line on the incoming feed lines before it gets to your main breaker. That seems like the biggest chance of snuffing a near by lightning strike. But would require contacting the power company to schedule a temp disconnect. The other types seem like they would be mildly effective at best since they are so far down the line, especially in old construction as they are inevitable installed towards the end of the panel buss bars with everything else farther up the line that was already there and are likely not readily relocated.
I'm no guru on this type of thing, but I imagine when it comes to a big surge... The minute resistances become much bigger factors in the direction the power goes to be dissipated. So the lowest resistance connection becomes the favored one. Most often that will start as the closest thing to the source with any real conductivity.
Still looking into one of the add-on ones though. Some protection is better than the nothing I have right now. It appears the Siemens universal add-on ones are the most popular.
Might change the way your system sounds...