Re: Are PC surge protectors needed in the UK?

From: J.J. (nomail_at_mail.com)
Date: 07/10/04 

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 14:34:16 +0100

w_tom <w_tom1@hotmail.com> wrote:

> A 3 or 5% reduction in voltage, also known as a brownout to
> the utility, is totally irrelevant to electronics and
> especially irrelevant to computers. A computer works just
> fine even when incandescent bulbs dim to less than 40%
> intensity. Even demanded in Intel specifications. IOW what
> the utility calls a voltage reduction is full power to the
> computer. Utility would have to decrease voltage more than
> 20% for a computer to see a brownout. But if utility voltage
> drops that low, then electric motors may be damaged. IOW
> voltage too low to damage electric motors is even full power
> to a computer - which demonstrates how resilient a computer
> really is.
>
> BTW, utility does not institute a voltage reduction to save
> money. Voltage reductions are a last ditch effort to avoid
> rolling blackouts.
>
> Spikes and harmonics are (or should be) irrelevant to a
> computer. Again, because the computer is so resilient.
> However that internal computer protection assumes the building
> has a 'whole house' protector so that spikes cannot overwhelm
> computer internal protection.
>
> All of which is irrelevant to HD protection. Either the
> power supply will output correct power or it will shutdown.
> This, of course, assumes the computer assembler had basic
> electrical knowledge and did not install those 'defective by
> design' $25 or $40 power supplies. But again, this was
> explained earlier.

If a computer PSU fails then I have heard that it may (or may not)
blow the mainboard and perhaps various other components with a
power surge or soemthing like that.

It seems that better PSUs are designed so that when they fail they
have some circuitry which protects the other components in the PC.

Is this failsafe feature of the PSU I am referring to pretty much
the same feature you are referring to? Or are they separate
features?

Does anyone know how common it is to get this failsafe feature in a
PSU?

 
> There is nothing cost effective adjacent to the computer. No
> UPS nor power strip protector that will protect computer
> hardware. Computer internal protection assumes the building
> has implemented a 'whole house' protector on AC mains
> connected less than 10 feet to central earth ground.
> Protection as it was even done and well proven before WWII.
>
> someone wrote:
>> A brownout is generally recognized as planned voltage cuts -
>> or undervoltage. My utility in the US routinely implements
>> 3% and 5% voltage cuts to shave or reduce peaks (and
>> thereby save $' when buying power).
>>
>> There is also the issue of spikes and harmonics.
>>
>> Given a current laptop/desktop will be ~ $800USD to ~$4000
>> for a high performance system and a UPS sells for $40 - why
>> subject a computer to unexpected power events? What is the
>> value of the data on the hdd(s)?

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