Surge Protectors

With electronic devices becoming the standard in many homes nowadays, it becomes increasingly clear that people need to protect their hard earned Macbook Pro, iPad, or any other valuable device from electrical surges and spikes. This is where surge protectors come in. A surge protector's function is to limit the amount of voltage supplied to an electric device by blocking voltages pass a safe threshold. By doing this, if an electrical surge happens, such as those caused by lightning, your devices will be protected.

Often times, surge protection is built into power strips. This allows many electronic devices to be plugged into the many outlets supplied by power strips, while protecting the devices in the event of an electrical surge or spike. In looking for a good surge protector power strip, you will often be looking for these specifications: clamping voltage, joules rating, and response time.

Clamping Voltage

The clamping voltage specifies the spike voltage in which will cause the protective parts in a surge protector power strip from moving unwanted energy away. In general, the lower the rating, the better the protection. Currently, the standard for 120V AC devices is 330 volts. Other ratings defined for UL ratings are 400 and 500 volts.

Joules Rating

A surge protector can only absorb so much energy. The joules rating defines how much energy a given surge protector can take before it fails. A higher joules rating does not necessarily mean a surge protector is better. The defining factor is the clamping voltage. If the clamping voltage is lower, that means the surge energy can be diverted somewhere else, allowing less energy to be absorbed.

Response Time

Surge protectors have slight delays in their protection mechanism. Usually, the faster the protection aspects turn on, the more it will protect your device. This is called the response time.