Which surge protector to use




















With a cord measuring 25 feet, the Tripp Lite Protect It 8-Outlet Surge Protector TLP has the longest cord of any of our picks, making it the ideal choice for a garage, a basement, or any room where wall outlets are few and far between. Overkill unless you have high-end home theater, office, or media equipment, this unit knocked down surges better than any other model we tried, including surge eliminators costing twice as much.

Our top pick will protect most equipment in most cases. But the Furman Power Station 8 PST-8 goes further, providing the best surge suppression of any model we tested—enough to give owners of high-end electronics peace of mind.

It turned a 5,volt surge into just 40 volts, thanks in part to a shutdown circuit that turns off all power when a surge is detected. The PST-8 actually let less voltage through in our tests than high-end series mode surge eliminators that can cost hundreds more. But common equipment, such as a computer monitor, will be fine protected by one of our less expensive picks, so this model is best for people who insist on extra protection for particularly precious gear.

Plus, it has a sturdy aluminum body and an 8-foot cord. To separate fact from fiction about surge protectors, our team at Wirecutter reached out to experts in multiple fields while writing the original version of this guide. We chatted over email with Jack Loppnow , an insurance pro who has been in the industry since the s, and got advice on what part homeowners and renters policies play in protecting your technology investments.

We also interviewed Joe Day , director of global business development at TerraCycle Regulated Waste, about how to recycle old surge protectors, power strips, and other common types of household electronic waste. A surge protector does much more than supply extra outlets. Most estimates put the average lifespan of a surge protector at three to five years. And if your home is subject to frequent brownouts or blackouts, you might want to replace your surge protectors as often as every two years.

If you have a cheap, basic power strip or the kind of multiport adapter that plugs right into a wall outlet , it most likely never had worthwhile surge protection capabilities to begin with.

No judgment—my college roommates and I relied on a power strip that my parents had bought for their first house decades earlier. Many cheap models continue to pass power to their outlets even after the protection is long gone. They can also protect against occasional surges from your utility company and are especially worth having in areas with unreliable power grids. Homeowners can opt to install a surge protection device SPD for their entire home, which is marketed on the premise of eliminating the need for plug-in surge protectors.

Also, whole-house surge protectors are typically rated for a much higher let-through voltage than our picks, clamping at to 1, volts rather than volts or less. If your home theater costs more than a compact car, it may be worth considering surge protectors with series mode capabilities.

Their non-sacrificial components are also designed to last indefinitely. The downside is that they can cost more than 10 times as much to replace as our top picks. Plus, our maximum-protection pick from Furman, which is a hybrid model that costs less than true series mode options, produced similar results in our testing.

Instead, you need an uninterruptible power supply UPS , most of which have built-in surge protection. If that describes you, read our guide to our top UPS picks. We started our research by scanning the top results on Amazon, Google Shopping, and retailers like Home Depot and Walmart, as well as the websites of well-known brands such as Accell, Belkin, and Tripp Lite, to compile a list of models.

As we did for previous iterations of this guide, we considered the different ways that people use surge protectors. We knew we wanted something heavy-duty for use with home office gear, game consoles in a living room, home theaters, or other power-hungry entertainment setups.

We also looked at smaller units designed for kitchen outlets or bedside tables, as well as series mode and hybrid models for people who want the highest level of surge defense. We looked for models in each of those subcategories that had several specific traits, including the following:. Filtering our candidates through these requirements left us with a short list of six models to test against our existing picks in In the US, wall outlets nominally provide electricity at volts, but most electronic devices can handle more, allowing them to operate on the volt standard used internationally.

In our rounds of testing, we subject each surge protector to a ridiculously powerful 5,volt surge and measure how much of the overflow voltage slips through. The resulting figures effectively tell us how many volts would be able to reach and potentially damage your devices at home.

The major exception would be direct lightning strikes, but considering that a single lightning bolt carries upwards of 1 billion volts , no surge protector will save your TV from one of those.

We attach each model to an EM Test NX5 surge generator to produce surges from volts to 5, volts in volt increments along each of the three legs of the wiring —line-to-ground L-G , line-to-neutral L-N , and neutral-to-ground N-G —and record the resulting output that would be passed along to any devices plugged into the surge protector. We follow that up with five consecutive surges of 5, volts and average those results.

We record the output—lower is better, because it means the surge protector is holding back more power from your devices—for all three legs of wiring. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Prev NEXT. Home Gadgets. There's no reason to hook up a light bulb to a surge protector because the worst that is likely to happen due to a power surge is that your light bulb will burn out.

You should definitely use a surge protector with your computer. It is filled with voltage-sensitive components that a power surge could damage very easily. At the least, this damage will shorten the life of your computer, and it could very easily wipe out all of your saved data or destroy your system.

Plus, it features three 2. It also helps you monitor how much energy your devices are using. If you travel frequently and want a relatively portable surge protector to take with you on the go, Nekteck will have your back. This power strip is one of the most versatile and portable ones money can buy.

It easily plugs into a standard outlet and comes with six power outlets and two USB-A ports for charging your smartphone or tablet. Our test team praised it for its well-spaced-out outlets and two 2. Gift Ideas. Type keyword s to search.

Today's Top Stories. Getty Images. Surge protectors come in the form of power strips, single-outlet protectors, and even travel-size devices—they have fewer outlets and will fit in a laptop bag.

A surge protector is an easy and inexpensive way to ensure the safety of your favorite gadgets. You can find surge protectors at retail stores, online, and electronics stores. Not sure what kind of protector you should buy? Get in touch with a professional electrician for assistance. If you have questions or need help with an electrical problem, get in touch with the Early Bird team. Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar Skip to footer.

February 20, An electronic device plugged directly into an outlet is susceptible to serious damage. What is a surge protector?



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