Do surge protectors really work?

[@mariajosemorante3601]

Very illuminating, THANKS! I am in Spain and we recently had a "sobretension" that actually melted the 4 phase neutral cable from the street. We lost our air conditioners , fridge, and stove extractor, and nothing else. Neighbor lost her coffee maker and everyone in our 3 floor building lost their air conditioners. Took us a month to get everything repaired. Amazingly, none of my computer gear was damaged and it's not on a surge protector. IIUC, laptop power bricks are all protected. Apparently my powers supply in my desktop machine has built in protection. I'm a freelance product designer / 3D modeler and it would have been awful had my machines been toast like our appliances. Great video.

[@ketas]

no regular thing has broken neutral overvoltage protection. some do surges. eg led bulbs, rarely. i would actually recommend voltage protection relays which are much cheaper than anything you have in house. as well as surge protection

[@ryuukeisscifiproductions1818]

Professional electrician here, what you had was an open neutral on a three phase wye situation. What the neutral does an any three phase (or split phase situation is take back the unbalanced load back to the power transformer. If you have a perfectly balanced load on all three phases, there will be no neutral current, and even if the neutral was removed, on a perfectly balanced system, no devices, even single phase devices will be damaged. however if a neutral is broken and the three phases are not balanced in their current draw, then some devices will experience higher than normal voltages and be damaged or destroyed. its very likely those three devices you where lost where on an unbalanced part of the load and experienced over voltage as a result, where as your computer equipment was not and thus lucky enough to survive,

[@grayrabbit2211]

Living in Florida all my life, I've lost plenty of equipment over the years. NONE of it over the powerlines. ALL of it due to EMP. Usually something with an RF section goes deaf, despite powering up. At one of my jobs, a transmitter tower took a direct lightning hit to the actual antenna. We found the radiating elements melted, in the parking lot below. Lightning hit that, blew straight down through the Heliax into the ground. In the doghouse, ALL of the surge protectors of multiple brands were actually exploded, leaving shit stains and shrapnel everywhere. Surprisingly, connecting the transmitters up to dummy loads, they still worked fine! We cobbled together some temporary antennas with scrap metal and ran some dodgy coax up the tower.

[@ScottiesTech]

Interesting!! Thanks.

[@THX..1138]

I just lost 2 TVs that were not surge protected. Other TVs and electronics that were surge protected are fine....So I'd say I agree don't expect miracles, but a few cheap surge protectors are well worth the effort.

[@Cocoabytes]

Lightening strike?

[@Lee-ib6be]

I just lost 2 also and had surge protectors...

[@roythunderplump]

@@Lee-ib6be If you have One surge, you then have to replace it. According the manufactures.

[@neddlangley5991]

Type 3 "surge protectors" (these AC lines) are essentially useless. They also cost something like 8 times more than its worth. They are more like regular line boards with 10 cent circuit breakers in them, and all of a sudden are worth 20-100 bucks. Read the jouls they claim it absorbs on its packaging. A bloke at JB-HiFi tried to convince me to spend $70 AUD on a premium Surge protector because it absorbs upto 1300 jouls. A lightning strike is typically hundreds of thousands of jouls, where's all those extra jouls going? Right on through to your appliances. Your plug in surge protector isn't stopping shit. The reason your appliances did or didn't break is probably because you had newer appliances connected to this line. These appliances probably have better protection from surges than your "surge protector", but because you didn't see that, the assumption is this product somehow works. The best and really only protection is type 1 or 2 REAL surge protection on your breaker. A proper earthing protection. Upto at least 50000 amps more than twice that of a lightning strike. These last decades if installed correctly and have been used for 100s of years. The Empire State Building gets hut by lightning bunches of times a year without losing power. It's not because of this garbage.

[@ericv738]

My surge protector protects my computer from direct meteor strikes. It's that good.

[@psbarrow]

I went one better, paid an extra $50 and mine will survive the Sun becoming a red giant in about 5 billion years.

[@cashova]

😂😂😂

The anti-tamper screws are mandated by a few laws to prevent laymen inserting fingers where there could be lethal ammounts of angy electrons. You will find them in most things powered by mains voltages. The GDT can take many blows and keep on protecting up to tripping main fuses in the pamel. There are newer din-rail mounted ZNRs that need just the actuall varistor replaved and it's like a cartrige, very nice. My only problem with commercial surge protectors is that they are triggering too high. There are alternatives to varistors that can take several surges without needing replacement but they would cost more to make and surely they'd be retailed at +10x the manufacturing price. I'm reffering to GDT+TVS (even +ZNRs, some capacitors and inductors)

[@CharlieRAnimaMX]

Apparently one of the Reasons the APC is a Strong Knox and that some manufacturers prevent it from being opened. It's because APC offers several hundred dollar damage insurance on products attached to their protection bars. so I assume it must be in part to prevent someone from tampering with the circuit to cause a catastrophic failure and collect insurance or after a current spike someone tries to repair (some apc products do not have screws but ultrasonic welding throughout the body to prevent fixing or tamper) [and if someone repair or tamper don't try to collect insurance later] however it could also be a matter of patents, in an easy attempt to obfuscate someone else from copying the design (something I myself, EEE Degree admit to having tried once out of curiosity to know how the faulty wiring detection mechanism [Site Wiring Fault] indicator works which was supposed to be an APC exclusive feature). and try to DIY - Although Surge Protectors are not much in general, APC power strips have several interesting components to do reverse engineering. For example, I have seen bars that, in addition to the MOVs, also use thermomagnetic switches to limit current thermic fuses, Transistor/resistor Arrangements for protection and basically the site Wiring fault detector. air gaps to hi/lo voltage protection and as a last barrier they use fuse tracks on the PCBs, so presumably they made power strips with sufficient Forensic evidence of what happened in case someone wants to collect insurance against damages. or sue APC [Something that has happened in a certain way in the past since there was a time when due to design flaws their surge protectors and some UPS melted or caught fire which led them to have government recalls for the US CPSC]. However, there are also some engineering decisions by APC that at the time of doing this reverse engineering are questionable and could even be on purpose or as a means of "safe planned obsolescence" so that their product fails intentionally or behaves differently. destructive way before a failure but does not correspond to a topic of dangerous intentional damage.

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

One good reason for a circuit breaker on *ANY* power strip is to protect the device and the cord, especially in the event that it is plugged into a 20 amp circuit but is only capable of handling 16 amps, or anything below 20 amps.

[@okaro6595]

There cannot be sockets on a 20 A circuit - at least not in Finland.

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

@@okaro6595 Ah, I probably should have been more specific. I was referring to the USA, although there are power strips with a #16 (AWG) cord that is plugged into a 15 A plug and circuit. Without a separate but lower rated breaker on the power strip, one could plug in an appliance that would overload the power strip without ever overloading the 15 A breaker. But, yes, in the USA, a 20 A breaker could supply power to 15 A outlets as long as they were wired with #12 AWG wire. This is arguably necessary due to the fact of our _split phase_ 120/240 V power system. A 15 A branch circuit would otherwise be capped out at 1875 Watts.

[@tommycollier9172]

They are called tamper proof screws, enjoyed your tutorial Thanks for sharing

[@alexfischer9493]

Thanks for breaking this topic down. Big fan of your videos, thanks for all you do!

[@chris-3]

That's a great explanation! For some reason, my computer power supply only lasts a year before dying. 2 have died on me so far, and they're high-end Seasonic models, not some cheap knockoffs. I just bought Schneider's APC and my third power supply. Hopefully, there will be no more issues. Thanks for the video!

[@ScottiesTech]

There are a number of reasons why your AC power might be frying puter power supplies, but with the APC in between, it should help A LOT. I once lived in a rural area with in absolute crap-wiring house where everything was overloaded. Simply sticking the puter on a UPS helped a whoooole lot. The UPSes tended to get tired, but the puter was happy!

[@adamgronski]

Hi, in most cases they put GDT in, before varistor, so the varistor isn't constantly under load. This way varistor won't deteriorate as quick and surge protection device will last for longer.

[@rodmanbrutus1671]

I would like to take a moment and say I do enjoy the fact that we are focusing on the most miniscule of search protectors being type 3 when you should be going over the more important search protectors like type 1 and type 2

[@borisjevic6338]

A little late to the party, but the one with the fuses, they are there so cut the electricity off in case the Varistors conduct or the GDT continuously, so that will make the fuse blow and cut the power and the condition that caused it. Hope that helps for the people wondering why the last power board had so many fuses. The resettable fuse normally is your normal size as per your countries regulations, while the others that were soldered in, those are slightly larger and trigger when there is a major fault, of which the resettable fuse will NOT catch. Else, this was a great video. Take care everyone.

[@NullTypeError]

Very helpful video, I had null failure twice per single week in DE, fortunately my workspace things were not fried. Now I'm thinking how to safeguard my pretty expensive work setup, unfortunately I can't modify main input in the flat and put surge protector there.

[@rodmanbrutus1671]

Electrician checking in. I would like to chime in and say that NO, using a type 3 surge protector plug into your room will not protect everything on that circuit. Ultimately that plug will protect everything down stream. To the guy who made the video, I would be more than happy to explain If your curious.

[@Hello-mu1et]

so ups or apr is the only way?

[@rodmanbrutus1671]

@@Hello-mu1et get a thype 1 surge protector for your meter, then a type 2 for the main panel, then a type 3 power strip for your outlet for the pc. in that order.

[@louf7178]

That was my thought. I can't see why he said that.

[@rodmanbrutus1671]

@louf7178 because he not an electrician. When you dont do it full time its hard to get concrete information. But kudos to him on his research

[@louf7178]

@@rodmanbrutus1671 Thanks! BTW, wouldn't an open switch of a power strip (or power center) prevent big surges until that switch gap could be jumped?

[@grasshopper3085]

The other day I was thinking that only way of isolating grid surges is to isolate the circuits altogether by having motor with its shaft connected to a generator that can deliver new and clean electricity to home appliances

[@slayerstenis]

I think they make such screws so that people will buy new instead of being able to fix it themselves

[@Br1cht]

Bingo!

[@Mikey-ym6ok]

That’s exactly right. Look at cars nowadays. They make it more and more difficult to fix and maintain yourself. Same with most devices.

[@selfawareness369]

@@regulus7181damn I didn’t even think about that lol

[@thomthumbe]

The one-way screws are not there to keep people out because the company doesn’t want another company from seeing “secret” engineering. It is at least some protection against a ham-handed technician from installing sub-standard parts, or bypassing the protection components altogether. No, it is not “Ft Knox” level protection, but it is at least something more than nothing. These surge protection devices are designed to protect for only one event, and then throw it away. After one electrical surge, there is no practical way you could guarantee another event without replacing everything. Nobody is trying to “strong-arm” a consumer into buying more product than they need. The art of electrical surge protection is a very nasty, unpredictable environment. Even with these kind of devices, there is still a good chance that you’ll still lose whatever it is that you are trying to protect. If you are really looking for reliable protection, you better start looking in the multi hundred or thousand dollar range. If you are worried about events like EMP, all bets are off.

[@abgiors]

​@@thomthumbeyes but how do you know when the device has been used? You can only be sure when the surge protector blows up Do you have some examples on higher end devices available in Europe? (unlike brickwall, surgex or zerosurge that are only designed with American sockets)

[@bhoot1702]

Well I learnt the hard way. I always disconnect all my electronics when we expect lightning. Once, I didn't, thinking the surge protector and fuse will protect, but no! I lost my very expensive Inverter that day. But at least no other electronics was affected

[@ScottiesTech]

That's the best option. Even actual "lightning protectors" can't possibly always protect from strikes... lightning is frickin' crazy!!!!

[@StellarStoic]

Love your Slovenian cup 🤗 Cheers from Slovenia

[@jeffgendron1959]

This is always something I wondered about. Great explanation. My only question is using a surge protector on a floating ground. Many people have large solar power stations which is a plastic box with no earth ground typically. In a power outage if I hook up a power bar with surge protection and I have a microwave, toaster, kettle, computer plugged in, when I use one of those devices I suppose it could create a surge in my little power network and not sure if that is dissipated in the surge protector. I also understand that using more than one device on a floating ground can be more dangerous if there is a short since you can become part of the power loop if touching those devices at the same time.

[@ScottiesTech]

Your gizmos should always be grounded. For example, in your house, every gizmo is attached to ground, which is attached to a ground rod in the earth. The power company then provides power, and your house neutral may or may not be bonded to ground at the panel (in N. America, yes, in rest of world, mostly no). When on any kind of backup power, the backup power generator CAN be grounded, but doesn't have to be. My genny is grounded to it's own earth rod directly next to it. That ground is NOT connected to the house, because then I'd have 2 grounds and I'd end up with a ground loop. Ground loops are where you have 2 earthing rods, and various conditions cause a difference in potential between the 2 rods that are spaced apart even a small distance - hence you get currents flowing where they shouldn't be, and things start exploding. IOW, your source of power kinda does its own ground, but the important part for you is your house ground. For solar, you should be able to generate DC power, feed that into your inverter, and then connect that to your house with transfer switch or whatever. Should the inverter go crazy, you'll get surges that will exceed the ratings of the varistors in the surge protectors, and thus they'll still do their job. On the other hand, generating power locally also has the benefit that many surges come into your house due to the power grid, it's very long aerial lines, and things like lightning strikes... If you're disconnected from the grid, you should have fewer potential catastrophic surges. Well, it gets more complicated than that in some situations, but overall, you should be okay and your surge protectors should still protect your gizmos no matter what's powering them.

[@jeffgendron1959]

@@ScottiesTech Thanks for the detailed response. Earth grounding correctly is the best way for sure. Good you have yours grounded. I don't think most people earth ground their portable solar power stations, you know like brands like Jackery or Ecoflow. They tend to be portable but powerful enough to run a microwave, electric kettle, lights etc... and people just use them as is.

[@appleimacdude]

Added a vintage Imac G3 grape that I will set up eventually to play my old fav games - was looking at adding a small UPS for this - was reading reviews - I am here in the U.S. - San Diego area. A lot of complaints about APC, CyberPower, Tripp lite - Eaton - stating that these are now junk as of the last couple of years, with reports of them catching on fire, and/or failing catastrophically. I was considering Panamax, difficult to find much info on this - it would be great to see these units torn apart, including Vivert - reports of very bad build quality, etc - many have said why bother having one of these, that perhaps it is safer to NOT have one of this installed than to have one! I know my last APC got too hot when I was traveling, and when I got home the battery had expanded to where I could not get the battery out of the unit. Switched to Cyberpower several years ago, and that one has performed well. Please tear apart some of these units - also, isn't there a testing gismo to test surge protectors?

[@louf7178]

Thankyou. Well explained with qualified warnings. One of the rabbit hole topics.

[@bradkaral1188]

Really thorough and well-done. Would you explain how plugging in a surge protector protects every device on the same circuit? What are your thoughts about the Tripp Lite ISOBars?

[@ScottiesTech]

The varistor across live and neutral wires is the most important one. Since that varistor will 'short' any surges, your gizmo is protected for short pulses. But that also means that on the same circuit, every other device is protected since all power outlets on that circuit have the same live + neutral wires connected to them, as well. So, plugged in a surge protector on one outlet on a given circuit protects every other outlet on that circuit. Better yet, you can plug multiple surge protectors in different outlets on the same circuit. If one fails, the other keeps protecting!

[@Tog84two97]

Have you done a video yet comparing a surge protector vs a surge arrester???

[@Mad-Lad-Chad]

This definitely filled in some gaps for me knowledge wise, though it leaves me curious. Do the automatic shutoff surge protectors use a design that instead of allowing electricity through after the varistors fail instead breaks the circuit stopping the flow electricity? I'm about to order one that has automatic shutoff so maybe I'll open it up and see.

[@ScottiesTech]

Yup, you got it. So the auto-shutoff ones are much better.

[@EconaelGaming]

I feel cheated by Brennenstuhl, since I assumed that a power strip with surge protection will in any case protect everything plugged into the strip.

[@okaro6595]

The single pole circuit breaker is rather dubious as it could break the neutral leaving mains voltage in the device.

[@molotov6844]

This man is so strong he can crack open the surge protectors with the security screws in them using his bare hands.

[@notreallyme425]

Each year my Christmas lights seem to go out, and I’ll have about 15-20 bulbs in a row all burned out (actually can see black scorch marks inside the bulbs). This happens to multiple strands of lights on different outlets. 2nd year in a row. I don’t see any other symptoms (other then LED lights occasionally flickering) but I’m assuming I’m getting surges, would a surge protector help with this?

[@ScottiesTech]

Maybe. My guess is that either your line voltage is too high, or too low... But possibly not high enough to be shunted by a surge protector. But the thing to do would be to get a voltmeter and check the voltage at different outlets at different times. If it looks normal, then it's probably surges.

[@hotwireman49]

I was not connected to any of those surge protectors so my brain fried when I started watching this video. Total thermal overload.

[@TheFilmWhoWasntThere]

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to using surge protectors built into plug heads? I've been considering upgrading some basic extension leads by changing the plug heads with surge protected ones, and considering how these extensions are clearly designed against being opened, it's the most user-repairable option I can think of. P.S. when the surge protected plug head has lost its protection over time, you can always switch it out and then (if I'm not mistaken) a non-surge protected plug head just becomes a normal plug head that can be used elsewhere, so less e-waste too!

[@ScottiesTech]

Yeah, they're all the same basic design, so that should work nicely!

[@gringoloco543]

Once I had a missing neutral on a backup generator. My surge protector MOVs exploded (Utilitech brand), and it tripped the built-in breaker, shutting off all power. The computers and other connected equipment were protected from the sustained high-voltage.

[@ScottiesTech]

That's an excellent example of how surge protectors work!

[@qq84]

18:14 wrong 1. You don't get more then 400V in a 230V 3 phase system. It's easy to calculate: 230V x √3 = ~400 2. Of course they protect you from high voltage due to loosing the neutral (or incompetent and negligent workers at the electrician company). And no, they don't have to last for hours. They have to last (e.g. for a 230V system) exactly 0.2 seconds and they easily do that. That's the longest time the circuit breaker may need to cut the power in case of a short circuit.

[@rosswatkinson9595]

So to have protection on certain equipment there must be better fail safe!Is their something that does do this for better protection (USA)

[@ScottiesTech]

A UPS (battery backup) is better, but still not 100%. UPSes have built-in surge protection that can also get fried. Once it does get zapped, very often the circuits that monitor and switch to battery power are also damaged. I speak from painful and very expensive experience here... ;)

[@rosswatkinson9595]

@@ScottiesTech Thanks alot I never miss a video of yours love it!!

[@schleicher5959]

Hello, great video. I want to ask that which type of MOVs that Brennenstuhl one (3rd one in video) is using? Can you give the product name if possible? I want to look at the data sheet, because they never give Joule rating on their surge protectors, just want to calculate from MOVs. I appreciate if you can give any info.

[@JurassicTrance]

What about surge protectors with automatic shut off that claim to cut power permanently to downstream devices after the protection circuit has been damaged?

[@ScottiesTech]

They exist, but are hard to find.

[@AlexRitzig]

Based on the comment recommending a UPS, does their surge protection circuitry also deteriorate and need to be replaced every "couple of years" as well? I know the batteries don't last very long for the power backup.

[@ScottiesTech]

Typically I find they last about 5-7 years. The batteries last 3-5 years.

[@junzhou5162]

So is it safe to connect a basic power strip to an single surge protector?? I heard somewhere that it may be a fire hazard

[@ScottiesTech]

Yes, that should be fine. Connecting multiple extensions cords and power strips together is only a fire hazard if you're running too much high-powered stuff at the same time - like electric heaters.

[@toddrhine7648]

Hi Scottie, great video and informative. I'm here in the USA. What would you recommend for a powerstip surge protector with at least 8 plugins. My cyberpunk literally fried/smoked on me today 😢 Have you looked into better ones than on this older video? Thx in advance & I subscribed/like your channel..

[@ScottiesTech]

In the USA, get one of these: amzn.to/3wW0Kj1 Not cheap, but it cuts power in case of surges! Tripp Lite is the only brand I know of that does this. Too bad they aren't available here in Europe!!

[@mjrawesome3430]

Are you saying that the APC is the least protective/good of them all? They cost about the same here... I was going to get the APC, because I already have enough extension cords. Not sure now.

[@curtw8827]

You didn't discuss the important specs to compare devices, #1 is the lowest clamping voltage (lower the better) #2 is joule capacity. Warranties are useless.

[@Riker-ER]

Very useful pragmatic info 👍

[@jerrodrollins1509]

I think they use those screws as safety screws, as if you were to somehow damage the safety protection mechanism thingamabobber, it would become a safety hazard or a fire hazard or something like that

[@Disastorm]

Do you happen to know why Japan uses mostly 2 prong yet still supposedly can have surge protection using these things they call OA taps that use a "surge absorbing element" many of which don't have a ground connection? I've heard Japan is based on short circuit surge protection or something like that rather than clamping. Is this actually a similar safety level as clamping with traditional surge protectors?

[@ScottiesTech]

Not sure why Japan isn't big on ground prongs. As I understand it, the real surge protection occurs between live and neutral. That's why many models have a larger varistor between live/neutral, and smaller ones between live/ground and neutral/ground (if present at all). IOW, most surge protection IS shorting the surge, not clamping it.

[@Disastorm]

@@ScottiesTech I see thanks for the info!

[@aricsumner2710]

Cheers! Thanks for your content!

[@tumroTimro]

Thankyou Dr. Strange 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@DumbledoreMcCracken]

Excellent video for the audience.

[@pso2adidas]

In regards to replacing surge protectors --- you said a couple years? are we talking 2 years? 3 years? 4 years? I just was curious what you find is a safe estimate since you know so much about what you are describing, thank you so much!

[@ScottiesTech]

It depends on how many surges the protector is exposed to, so it's hard to say... But I would say in general, replace them every 5 years.

[@streamallday]

3:55 perfectly pronounced 😆

[@Br1cht]

Very informative, thank you. I’m more and more getting into the Luddite way of thinking, “Devil technology bad” ;)

[@geraldreyes7835]

When Varistors (between live and neutral) reach the peak voltage they conduct electricity which in turn short the circuit and make the fuse blow/reset therefore disconnecting the whole extension from the mains (if the fuse is fast enough to react and blow). Meanwhile the 2 varistors between ground and live/neutral will just dump the surge to earth.

[@ScottiesTech]

Theoretically, yes... But practically, not necessarily. What I mean is that I had a sustained voltage spike "event" that fried a bunch of stuff in my house. The surge protectors in some cases worked helped save stuff, but only one breaker tripped. Mostly, the varistors exploded, no breakers tripped, and gizmos got fried anyway. So, they're really good for short surges, but not for sustained ones that could trip a breaker. Which is really weird, because you'd think that's what would happen! One of the mysteries of life, I guess.

[@ryuukeisscifiproductions1818]

@@ScottiesTechone of the things that's worth noting is that generally plug in surge protectors are usually adequate for protecting from surges that originate inside a home, usually caused by some large inductive load such as an AC unit or refrigerator compressor turning off. They are a little more hit or miss at dealing with surges originating outside a home, such as a lightning strike on a power line. But above ground power lines, should be protected with lightning arrestors to reduce this problem, however not every power company in the world is very good about installing them. but to have adequate lighting protection, you need a whole house surge protector for that. And no surge protector made can stop a sustained power surge from say for example, an energized 7.2 KV power line coming into contact with the low voltage wires on the secondary side of a transformer.

[@rayl6599]

Do non-sacrificial surge protectors like ZeroSurge or Furman models with SMP also protect everything on the same circuit or do those only protect equipment plugged into the protector?

[@ScottiesTech]

Yup, they protect everything on the same circuit, even if it's plugged into another outlet on that circuit.

[@rayl6599]

@@ScottiesTech I did some further research including looking up ZeroSurge's expired patent with the following diagram -- I am now not so sure this will protect loads on the other side of the SPD even if on same circuit as it looks more like a filter than a shunt: patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/7d/de/ab/12497f29261ebf/US4870534-drawings-page-2.png

[@Soyboythoughts]

So replace old protectors, replace protectors that have gone through big surges and dont worry about expensive ones.

[@billbob4243]

What is going on ? In my block a bunch of neighbors got Teslas. And as more neighbors got Teslas the power has been less reliable. Sometimes even long brown outs. Routers need to be reset. PCs crash, laptop batteries get fried... And they are all behind surge protectors. Then I replaced the surge protectors with sine wave UPS. Now no more problems. No Internet going out every day, no more PCs crashing or devices burning out. Why?

[@ScottiesTech]

Well, car chargers are very noisy, but that shouldn't fry stuff in your house. It sounds more like too much load, which causes a voltage drop when everybody's charging at once. When you just use surge protectors, that only protects against voltage spikes that are too high - not voltage that's too low. But with a UPS, it'll monitor the input frequency, voltage, and usually a few other things. If the juice coming into your place varies from the norm too much, it'll switch you over to battery backup to protect your gizmos. UPSes are a MUCH better option to protect electronics for this very reason. In the end though, the power company should check things out and fix the supply to the neighborhood - whatever's wrong with it.

[@billbob4243]

@@ScottiesTech - thx. we had super clean and reliable power before Teslas.

[@ketas]

it's simpler. it's a short. varistor is high voltage short. just like capacitor is high frequency short. same rules can be applied to inductors and so. it helps me to think

[@gem2148]

So do you advise getting the 1st product (APC plug) ? Is it sufficient to protect my hard drive and computer? Also what are your thoughts about whole house surge protectors?

[@richranchernot]

One way screws are used due to the fact that there are no end user serviceable components inside. I believe your description of the thermal fuse is incorrect. It should be in series and disconnect power to entire power strip.

[@hero_knightusp7416]

So we have like 3 phase protection that is in the fuze box and outlets. Are those better?

[@ScottiesTech]

If what you have is a 3-phase surge protector (with removable cartridges), then yes, that'll do! If it's a circuit breaker or RCD/GFCI with a lever to turn power on/off, then that's a different kind of protection.

[@1Eagler]

How can y fix it?

[@vladislavkaras491]

Thanks for the explanation!

[@mezo5306]

Please help me with advice. I live in a region where the electricity is cut off twice a day for an hour and returns. Is the first model of APC sufficient to protect my refrigerator from the danger of a power surge? I know that the power consumption of my refrigerator is 235 watts, and the voltage is 220 volts , 1.35 amp . Thank you.

[@ScottiesTech]

Yup, the APC will work fine with your fridge.

[@appleimacdude]

They make surge protectors specifically for refrigerators - I have been told these are better to use, either way, they MUST be heavy duty enough for the fridges start up voltage. Mine is made by RCA.

[@ericmc6482]

Those screws are called 'tamper proof' screws. Intended to keep sticky fingers out lol.

[@Gary_Hun]

Highly romantic, but when something prevents non-destructive servicing, screw their screw jargon pal, it's just plain idiocy, let's not begin defending idiocy alright.

[@TheOfficialMiztrCounty]

I have a question, I had a lightning strike yesterday, i had everything plugged in into a surge protector, including my xbox are they going to get fried? Because the lightning was in big impact with my house. Im worried

[@ScottiesTech]

Most likely, the surge protectors are at least partially fried. Probably a good idea to replace them. If anything plugged into the surge protectors was fried, then the protectors themselves are DEFINITELY fried.

[@TheOfficialMiztrCounty]

@@ScottiesTech I checked today, everything worked. Which is weird. Do you think there still going to be fried?

[@ScottiesTech]

@@TheOfficialMiztrCounty It depends on the intensity of the strike and how big the resulting surge was... So, better safe than sorry!

[@appleimacdude]

Keep in mind lightning can also travel to your electronics from OTHER sources, such as lightning hitting an outside light fixture, antenna, etc - and travel through coax cable or such, and NOT go through the electrical panel and those wires -

[@Man_-hf4ix]

Thank you, very informative an helpful 👍

[@selfawareness369]

Are surge protectors good for using to prevent the circuit breaker on the house from tripping? I have a bunch of gadgets going on in my garage at one time including a refrigerator, dryer, washer, portable AC. Im assuming the ax compressors are causing a surge which is tripping my circuit breaker. Will a surge protector prevent this scenario?

[@ScottiesTech]

No, different kind of surge... If the breaker is tripping, the total current is too high. Surge protectors protect against voltage spikes. In your case, you can calculate the total current being drawn by all the gizmos (Power = Volts / Amps), and if the total current is higher than the breaker current rating, you've got too much stuff running on the 1 breaker. If it's LOWER than the total, then you might get away with replacing the breaker with one that allows motor-start surges (they're known as 'D' type in Europe)... But really, you should divide the gizmos up between different circuits. Usually, you do Washer = 1 circuit, Dryer = 1 circuit, and then you can prolly get away with running the rest on the existing circuit.

[@RubberTag]

We don't have ground in our apartment, only in the kitchen and bathroom, can I use one of these instead? Like plug in the computer through a surge protector. If the computer would shortcircuit so eletricity would you go out into the chassi and I would mistakenly ground myself and touch the chassi, would the surge protector trigger and shut off the power so I don't fry myself? 🤔

[@ScottiesTech]

The surge protector will still prevent surges across live/neutral, but not from live or neutral to ground. BUT if you have a GFCI/RCD (what I like to call a safety breaker), that monitors leakage current from live/neutral. So if you did have a short to ground/chassis, the safety breaker should trip before you get electrocuted. Of course, that doesn't mean you won't get a zap, but it's better than nothing since the GFCI/RCD would statistically prevent the zap from being lethal. Ideally, you'd add a real ground, but if it's an apartment that not exactly easy to do. You could get some RCD/GFCI plug adapters like these: amzn.to/3tCbQrV Stick that in the wall socket, then connect surge protector strip to it. Anything plugged in to the surge protector gives you both surge protection AND leakage current protection. That's what I would do!

[@RubberTag]

@@ScottiesTech Thanks a lot for the help and tip! :D

[@hajdla199191]

Hello,i have small question , do apc plug can provide safe connection from 2stroke petrol generator to delicate electronic, im looking for something to protect my electronic from fry , once i plug straight to generator my makita battery chargers and it fry instantly , and i dont wana make same mistake, im using my generator on my allotment

[@ScottiesTech]

Just the APC surge protector probably isn't enough. It might protect against voltage surges, but not against under-voltage. If voltage is too low, current goes up - then things get fried. Plus, running on a generator is often very tricky for certain electronics (like battery chargers) because generators are like little tiny pools of water, whereas the electrical grid is like an ocean of electricity. The ocean can "absorb" more than the little pool of water. The same is true of inverters for green energy sources.

[@Steve-ji5oz]

I have one question , if you are using a voltage control relay (three phase) in your electric panel , is it safe to say that you are protected against high and low voltage in your appliances ? Do you still need UPS to prevent frying your computer ?

[@ScottiesTech]

If you mean a voltage-monitoring relay like the kind used for motor protection, then that's sort of like having a whole-house UPS - at least in terms of the protection part. But even then, I'd still use surge protection because 2 levels of protection are usually better than just one!

[@Steve-ji5oz]

@@ScottiesTech yes that's what i mean , ok thanks for your time !

[@fcsthememe7987]

How much is a couple of years, I just replaced all in my room. Very curious

[@ScottiesTech]

It depends on how stable your power is. I watch our line voltage regularly (via the display on my UPS battery backup as well as direct measurements with a digital multimeter) and since I live in the country, it's pretty volatile. Jumps all over the place during the day, and is almost never a stable 230V like it should be. So, in my case, I'll replace them every 3-5 years. If the line voltage is quite stable where you are, I'd say 5-10 years.

[@MegatronVideo]

I wanted to buy that very APC that you opened in this video, but I read a lot of comments that such devices can cause a fire. I found one such comment for a KZbin video titled "Inside a 13,500A surge protector. (With schematic.)". And in general, if you search on KZbin: surge protector fire - you will find many videos about it. What do you think about that?

[@ScottiesTech]

In general, if it's designed well, a surge protector shouldn't cause a fire... any more than surges causing components in appliances/gizmos to burst into flames. I experienced a BIG surge myself at home, and a lot of gizmos were toasted. Upon opening many of them up, I could easily see how any of them could have started a fire - but none did. So, all things considered, I usually just encourage people to go at least mid-range on whatever they buy - never the cheapest. The cheapest gizmos often cut corners, and then you're more likely to have fires or various other problems due to poor design.

[@MegatronVideo]

@@ScottiesTech Thanks for your reply! If it's not inappropriate, I would like to ask you if you consider the APC PM1W (the same device that you opened and analyzed at the beginning of this video) to be mid-range, or it's the cheapest? Unfortunately, I already bought "Brennenstuhl 1506950" but I guess it's lesser quality than that APC.

[@ScottiesTech]

@@MegatronVideo I bought a bunch of the APC PM1Ws, and I'm happy enough. But I'd say both APC and Brennenstuhl are pretty good brands. I consider the "cheap" ones to be off-brand no-name ones. The BEST kind are TrippLite, which disconnect the juice when the protection fails, but I've been unable to find anything equivalent in Europe, so I'm stuck with what I've got. I've got a whole bunch of APC battery backups, and I find them to be the most reliable and long-lasting.

[@MegatronVideo]

@@ScottiesTech Thank you!

[@DH-tv2yw]

@ScottiesTech Have you seen the Sollatek plug through AVS such as the FridgeGuardiS? I brought a couple after my fridge freezer died a fortnight after a power cut which I believe had caused an undervoltage.

[@dankusmemus2350]

Great video, thanks

[@RB-nm3ko]

If devices and appliances only accept so many amps due to resistance, how do surges damage them? Thanks

[@ScottiesTech]

Surges are spikes in voltage, which then cause current to flow where/when it shouldn't. This might help: kzbin.info/www/bejne/baG3n4aqmsmcapY

[@bryceanders9988]

Wished I knew the name for the technology that allows the whole room circuit protection as I couldn't find a U.S. version of the small APC single outlet from your link. Perhaps it called surge arrest, but I haven't been able to find anything without adding a circuit breaker with surge protection. If anyone knows where to find the U.S. version of the small single outlet APC I sure would be in your debt.

[@ScottiesTech]

Belkin makes a small single-outlet version: amzn.to/4ahFzqa

[@mijaba]

could I take the surge protection out of a 3 outlet power strip and use it in a 15 outlet power strip assuming the wiring is correct? would it work?

[@ScottiesTech]

Yes. That should work just fine.

[@mijaba]

@@ScottiesTech Thank you so much for the quick reply!

[@DiGiTAL_S80]

can a fast blow fuse protect from over voltage if the voltage passed through it is over the fuse rated voltage?

[@ScottiesTech]

Usually, no. Surges are often very, very short, and the fuse may not blow even if the voltage is too high. Fuses are made to blow when the current hits a certain level.

[@yt-xo4lb]

What if one plugged in device creates surge not from power source contact?

[@ScottiesTech]

I would fix the device! :)

[@olliveraira6122]

18:40, but if the surge suppressors blow up, doesn't the flow of current stop (hence, rescuing the gear if it isnt already fried)?

[@ScottiesTech]

In most of these, no. The protection blows up, but then they keep on sending juice to the connected gizmo(s). In that sense, they should be called "surge suppressors", not "surge protectors"!

[@olliveraira6122]

@@ScottiesTech hmmm I see, are there any labels or anything one could look for that differentiates between protectors that stop current vs those that dont? Or do you simply have to take the thing apart to know whats inside?

[@ScottiesTech]

@@olliveraira6122 The only brand I know of that actually cuts the power is Tripp Lite. Can't those where I live, unfortunately, but that's what I'd use if I could.

[@rickboi7123]

Could my Xbox console get damaged from not being plugged into a surge protector?

[@ScottiesTech]

Yeah, it's possible.

[@Braydon05]

Hi i got a ps4 slim and a tv pluged into the same powet surge am i safe to play i got a surge protecter worth 14 bucks i think i dont know if i can play during a thunder storm dough because it has been thunderstorming every now and agian

[@ScottiesTech]

Sounds fine to me!

[@ayberksasmaz7564]

Sir im also using a tapo smart plug. First i plug the apc and then this tapo smart plug on it and the main device plugs at the end. Is it fine to use like that? Thank you.. Kind regards

[@ScottiesTech]

Yes, that's fine.

[@ayberksasmaz7564]

Thank you for your answer now i feel comfortable by using it like that @@ScottiesTech

[@douglasheld]

8:57 ON/OFF/RESET. It may not be a good one but that is indeed a circuit breaker, no?

[@magistar0]

So which surgers is reccomended?I mean from which manufacturer?For eu outlets

[@ScottiesTech]

I like APC, but they'll keep working even if toasted. So, yeah... Maybe I'll release my own brand that stops working once zapped. :)

[@magistar0]

@@ScottiesTech i changed my mind.I will buy ups for my electronics.I have two airconditoin,tv,macbook,/ 2apple tv,etc

[@magistar0]

@@ScottiesTech i saw your recomend better ups.I will buy it.

[@ikust007]

Really excellent.

[@MaximusProxi]

So I just built myself a pretty expensive PC and wanted to "protect" it with such a socket. Now looking at whats available I stumbled across numbers like 13500 A and 60000 A surge protected. The Price diffrence is really crazy, up to like 80$+, now the question is do I need such a high end multi socket (like 8 sockets in a row) or is it wasted money? Is the 13500 A enough or should you go with the 60000 A one. I'm powering a 1300w PSU (PC), a lamp and some smaller gadgets with it, nothing more. As you might've noticed I have no clue about these things and I can't seem to wrap my head around that topic, so please help me out! Oh and I don't think I really wanna use one of these UPS things, those are so massive..

[@ScottiesTech]

It's hard to say without actually looking inside the units. Some surge protectors have larger varistors, some smaller. The bigger they are, usually the more juice they can handle before exploding. But really, ANY surge protection is 100 times better than none. So, I just go for the most reasonable price from a name brand with positive reviews.

[@MaximusProxi]

@@ScottiesTech Okay.. Thank you so much for the fast answer! I just picked up the non premium version from a good brad, surge protected + circuit breaker, with 9k reviews and 5 stars (Brennstuhl).. Must be decent! At least its gonna have a better build quality than my current 5$ one!

[@nalinhanda]

sir very useful information, im just curious to know do surge protector work even without ground / Earthing ? i have just bought a belkin surge for my 65 inch sony tv but my house is almost 35 years old and has no ground in it. will i still get surge protection?

[@ScottiesTech]

Yes, you'll get most of the protection to prevent frying your TV - which is across live/neutral. Protection is better with a ground, but not absolutely necessary.

[@nalinhanda]

@@ScottiesTech thank you for the information. It helps to clear my doubts. ☺️

[@mdjey2]

@@ScottiesTech What benefits surge protection has if it is connected to the ground?

[@yuvrajkote9622]

Sorry for not liking your video, but the goooooogle tracks the activities and keeps records of liked videos and so much privacy issues with Google. Want to avoid Google but no option. I like your video .

[@ScottiesTech]

You can always watch on Rumble, Odysee, or Bitchute. See links here under 'Videos': scottiestech.info :)

[@kmnaniak]

what about APC SurgeArrest ? they claim it is cutting off power coming to outlets so in theory is doing what these reviewed are not

[@ScottiesTech]

AHA! Those are perfect. They do indeed cut power when a surge fries the protective components inside. Good find!

[@delsorou]

He introduces himself... he pets a cat... no... not a cat... that's a tribble. I look up to see the font on the wall. *smash like*

[@seba2038]

can I use surge protector like the apc with 1 outlet in front of power strip with 6 outlets?

[@ScottiesTech]

Yes! Surge protectors protect everything plugged in to the same circuit. That means if you have a circuit breaker (in your electrical panel) connected to, say, 3 power outlets, then plugging in any kind of surge protector in 1 of those outlets protects everything plugged in to all 3 power outlets - plus anything plugged into plugged-in power strips, etc. You can even plug in more than 1 surge protector, and you just get more protection.

[@seba2038]

@@ScottiesTech thanks. what about this brand branenstuhl, I see they have from 13500 a to 60.000a, how much of joules it is? It is worth to pay 3x more for more stronger strip, 70 eur instead of 25?

[@ScottiesTech]

@@seba2038 Those ratings are mostly marketing nonsense. Brennenstuhl is a pretty good brand though overall. Usually, I go with one of the more popular (and mid-range expensive) major brands. Otherwise, it's Chinese no-name brands. Some of those are very good, but others not so much...

[@seba2038]

@@ScottiesTech ok, but must be difference between 13k and 60kA, it cannot be only marketing. Probably they have more powerful elements inside...so they can resist to stronger surges.

[@ScottiesTech]

@@seba2038 Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Very often, they use short-term current ratings as "the rating". IOW, a varistor can withstand X current for 10 seconds, or 4X current 1 milliseccond. The more accurate value is the 1 second rating, not the 1 second rating. Better yet, what's the 1 minute rating, becuz then you're sure the component is far less likely to fail during short surges. So they're usually not lying, just exaggerating. It's kind of like cold cranking amps for a car battery. Yes, under absolute ideal conditions, you get LOTS of current, but drop the temperature by 10 degrees, and no you don't. It still works, and it's still a lot of current, but - well, you get the idea.

[@DavidByers1eye]

Thank You . . . 1 Eye . . .

[@MakersGonnaMake]

03:56 well done I thought a German walked into the scene

[@baphometrag7751]

Can i use this for my 650w psu for gaming

[@ScottiesTech]

Yes!

[@Eiight8]

I just lost a motherboard on my desk top computer. It was surge protected. ⚡️ 😢

[@carrybigspeaksoft1758]

So then what actually works? What actually shuts off the power?

[@ScottiesTech]

Either a surge protector that DOES cut the power, or a surge protector that you build yourself with a voltage sensor that drives a contactor. Not so easy to DIY, unfortunately.

[@aishacs]

I just buy them because they have lots of outlets

[@theshadow6273]

I noticed you didnt mention "whole house" surge protection in your video, why is that?

[@ScottiesTech]

I did a vid on that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/noCQg2OmnbiLjq8 Not easy to DIY properly!

[@theshadow6273]

@@ScottiesTech very true. Messing with electrical box requires professionals lolol

[@redfields5070]

Surge protectors are only useful to give you multiple outlets. They are way too slow to protect your computer. You need a UPS on any computer or computerized device.

[@yellowgreen5229]

Obviously these are only type 3 and there should be type 1 and 2 sp's before them. Tgese are junk anyway that use lits if plastic and it is better to fit them in the consumer unit.

[@x-oduzeuphoria7284]

How about if you connected a surge protector to another one and the 1 more and then finally on that last surge outlet you connect you’re electronics? 😂

[@ScottiesTech]

Then you're extra-safe! ;) I actually DO connect multiple surge protectors in 1 room. If one surge protector fails, the 2nd or 3rd one plugged in to the same circuit keeps protecting stuff.

[@yuvrajkote9622]

Is that a cat on that device?

[@ScottiesTech]

He's a Tribble.