surge protectors confusion

[Kye]

http://www.pcwcomponentcentre.co.uk/invt/f9m820uk4m

i want too protect the 2 PCs ( since its one extention, all 8 sockets being used ) from surges, just for good investment. but, look at all those other features?!

all i want too do is protect my two childre...i mean PCs. is this way too much for what i want? a simple plug'in the mains, and put all the plugs in that one big extention. all i want. will a feature this thing has cause me grief with its technical confaffle?

 

[muckshifter]

All those other "features" can be useful ... if you use them.

One 'feature' that would have helped some unfortunate people is the "phone/fax" in/out line ... you plug your 'dial-up modem' cable into it and it will protect it in the same way as the mains protector works.

For example;
BT telephone lines are very susceptible to outside interference from thunderstorms & especially lightning because they hang in the air, not through being struck by lightning but by its nature to statically charge the air ... now what happens, if your lucky, is it 'blows' the modem and if your not so lucky it blows the modem AND several other components in your computer ... I know, I've had to 'fix' them.

Nice to see now that Belkin, I use only Belkin, have catered for not only dial-up users but also ADSL/DSL cable modems as well ... we who use NTL (with underground cabling) do not suffer the same problem.

So I say, pick the one that will give you the best "protection" for your system ... the reason I have 3 is quite simple, my first one did not offer protection from dial-up, they now do. Although I no longer use dial-up I still have an internal modem and it is 'plugged into' the appropriate socket.

 

[muckshifter]

A simple "surge protector" can be made by modifying a household plug ... but I forget what transistor/capacitor is used.

Maybe acrimonious, err, I mean Matt Jason could shed some light on that.

On second thoughts, maybe that would be too dangerous.

 

[Stan The Man]

Hi Kye

There a plenty of 'protected' power outlets available, I chose Belkin 8 way 13 Amp plus Telephone and TV Aerial [also use the computer as a TV]. The best bit is it was offered with free insurance on connected hardware [not sure if this 'freebie' is still available currently].



I have had no problems over the last couple of years, but my son had his modem fried along with the TV during a bad storm.