On 26/09/2021 22:22, Jorge Almeida wrote:
On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 6:24 PM antlists <antli...@youngman.org.uk> wrote:
Hello, Wol and Dale
When you rebuild it, get a surge protector and then put a UPS behind
that ... snag is that's all extra expense :-(
Surge protectors: I googled it and mostly got bad reviews. Do they
_really_work? What would you recommend? It probably should be
something amazon-purchasable! Availability in my country is probably
limited (and overpriced to boot, I bet).
Surge protectors are tricky. In the UK, our power supply is pretty clean
so they're (almost) a waste of time. They should have a status on them,
usually they're good for one shock and that's it. The big danger in many
places is a lightning hit on overhead power lines. And if it's a storm
you can have several hits in quick succession which will overwhelm the
protector ...
UPS: never gave it serious thought, I had the impression there was too
much unclear stuff: for example, is it noisy (does it need a fan)? If
(when) some component needs replacement will I know it before
disaster? And does the replacement require a "qualified technician"? (
Dale's description is not very reassuring!)
Again, you need a decent unit. And they're mostly a lot cheaper than a
computer, so if they take the hit rather than your computer you're quids
in whatever. But even if they're a not-very-good unit, if your local
power is crappy they should clean it up and protect your computer to
some extent.
Note that my lightning problem happened at night with both computer
and monitor powered down (but still connected to a wall outlet through
an interrupted extension; hence the "not-so-smart" self-qualifying...)
The problem is, I'm in an area where the protection these things provide
is pretty redundant - I'd probably be fine without them. If you need
them, as I said the danger is they're overwhelmed right at the start and
then your kit gets damaged along with the surge protector and UPS ...
Cheers.
Wol
