YucaLandia
Oct 12, 2015, 8:03 AM
Post #6 of 7
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I just bought a woodturning lathe with electronic controls. I want to protect it from electrical surges but at Walmart, the product descriptions listed joules but nothing about amps. I know very little about electricity and would appreciate advice on a surge protector meeting the following requirements:
IMPORTANT: A Surge Protection Device rated to at least 15 amps - for USA and Canada, other countries 10 or 15 amps -must be used to protect the DVR electronics from electrical spikes or surges, similar to those used on most Home PC's.
There's an apples-and-oranges issue going on in this discussion:
The amps that a device (like a wood working tool) uses - "15 amps" - is a very different quantity than the protection needed for eliminating/absorbing voltage spikes/surges.
The total power used by the tool is defined by its amperage and voltage ( I x V ), but that "power" is NOT the same as the energy (Joules) in a voltage spike/surge.
The energy in the spikes/surges is smaller that the power used by the tool.
Typical power strips that handle 15A have very low surge suppression values ( < 100 joules ).
A typical UPS offers surprisingly low (poor) surge suppression capacities of 350 joules or less ... not good for protecting electronics.
Ken,
For woodworking tools, you want a good HEAVY DUTY power strip that is rated for relatively high power demands (15A) AND rated for at least 650 joules of energy/spike/surge suppression. 1000 joules of suppression would be a very good rating. Belkin makes a good power strip for this: "Belkin Conserve Switch Surge Protector with Remote (F7C01008q)" for a about $40 USD. ... with 1000 joules of surge suppression to protect the electronic controls on your wood working equipment - while simultaneously providing good current supply values.
Other readers who simply want to protect electronics, stereos, computers etc (devices with different needs than wood shop equipment) should consider a different device: Use a decent power conditioner (starting prices at $75 USD) designed for electronics. ... Washing machines, fridges et al with electronic controls require yet a different kind of power conditioner.
People wanting power-outage back-up protection need an additional UPS ...
In other words: Match the surge-suppressor / power-conditioner / UPS to your specific need. ... unless you buy a monster whole house power conditioner that protects your house's breaker box panel... but .... ironically ... many modern surges and drops now come from inside our homes - esp. in Mexico with our Air Conditioners and other (washer dryer) motors turning ON and OFF - which means it still can be necessary to have good (layered) protection out at the specific device - like a microwave oven...
and yes, we've found that microwave ovens have been the most fragile electronics - needing protection - of all household devices ... where the modern switching power supplies on TVs and laptop computers nicely accommodate varying voltages from 105V - 240V.
Final note: None of these proposed solutions address lightning strikes - which require yet other protections.
(Yes, we've had 2 lightning strikes pop-in through both the cable-TV/internet and Telmex-internet connections - frying basic Routers, Modems, ROKUs, computer-ethernet boards, WiFi routers, powered ports/splitters ... cooking everything down-stream that was connected by ethernet-cabling.)
Happy Trails,
steve
http://yucalandia.com/2014/08/30/are-you-up-to-living-in-mexico/
http://www.cnet.com/news/9-things-you-should-know-about-surge-protectors/
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Read-on MacDuff
E-visit at http://yucalandia.com
(This post was edited by YucaLandia on Oct 12, 2015, 8:06 AM)
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