What are the most important features that truly make a difference - minus the snake oil!

how much protection does it actually provide & how long do they stand behind it.
My manufacture of choice is surgex.

+1 for Surgex

I have always liked Panamax for service/support and I have not seen one fail yet. I remember way back when we used Monster, the Panamax rep came with his demo. He sent 120VAC down the coax. that was plugged into the Monster unit (one of the larger component style ones...not the strips), and the thing lit up. It started on fire and let all the smoke out. Sure enough, the same test with the Panamax power strip did not result in a fire. :) I thought it was funny. Probably not a true to life demo, but hey....fire and smoke make entertaining rep visits!

I am going to try one of the WattBox units from Snap in my own home. Probably the 12 outlet sequencing unit with display.

+2 Surgex

Why doesn't SurgeX offer joule ratings for their devices?

I see 'up to 6000 volts' protection, but that doesn't seem like a lot.

In a brochure, I see 'Maximum Applied Surge Current: Unlimited (due to current limiting),' and 'Maximum Applied Surge Energy: Unlimited (due to current limiting).'

What does that mean?

This is one of their brochures:
[Link: surgex.com]

most consumers do not really know what a joule is, so when Surgex tells you that it will stop a 6000 volt/3000 amp hit, the average consumer understands that better.

watch this

F-in A. I hung out at the booth and watched them blow up stuff. SurgeX goes in all my projects now.

I saw that too! What convinced me was watching the pamamax fail and the surgex kept chugging along like nothing happened.
I only spec SurgeX now as well.

Well I know i am not the all knowing but unless you run a circuit from your racks power distribution none of this isht is worth piss. I just got off th phone with Panamax and once you put a low voltage connection in the mix the warranties and coverage are off.

I was told that without using the same ground as the rack then any connection to the display will carry the surge. Just lost a TV and receiver with Panamax and Monster surge protection at both ends.

We already do this for projectors but in retrofits its is not always feasible. Save your clients some money and don't put the TV on surge. It doesn't do anything.

+1 for Surgex

A little bit about surges. 6000 volts would be a big surge. If you are thinking of the volts of a lightning bolt then no it does not seem that much. However, the best protection against a direct lightning strike is good insurance, no surge protector is going to stop a direct hit.

If lightning strikes a pole down the road that is what is going to cause a surge in the system. By the time it is distributed between the various buildings and ground, 6000 volts would be a big hit.

The SurgeX piece will absorb an unlimited amount of surges where as a 'joule' surge protector unit is how much energy it can handle over its lifetime. So if you have a 2000 joule surge protector it can handle either one large 2000 joule surge or twenty 100 joule surges. No matter how many or how big the surges are once its energy is used up the surge protection no longer works. There are a number of calculators to figure volts to joules etc.

Some recommendations by UL. If you have interconnected equipment such as computers or AV equipment you shouldn't use surge protection that diverts its surge energy to ground. Because if it diverts to ground it may go into equipment through ground at another point or through a low voltage line.

The best place to divert a surge to ground is at the service entrance before it comes into the house. If you were going to have only one type of surge protector in your home a whole house surge protector would be best and would protect the whole house. What a whole house surge protector does not do is protect against surges that originate from within the house like when motors turn on or off. These are typically smaller surges compared to the surges coming from the outside but some could cause damage.

Surges and damage to equipment. Sags are more likely to cause damage then surges and are more common in most areas. A UPS will help a sag. We probably all have a lot of electronic equipment that runs day to day and never has a surge protector on it. How many plug their cell phones into a surge protector when charging? Is the microwave on a surge protector? It has electronics inside it. Most of our equipment will work just fine if we have no surge protection at all.

Surge protection is like insurance, it is good to have but you might not ever need it. If you are in an area with a lot of lightning it is a good idea. Also, protect your low voltage lines as they come into the home. Only protecting the electrical line is like like only wearing a glove on one hand, the other hand is exposed. A good surge down the cable line could take out your cable box and anything connected to it.

SurgeX is good protection and doesn't divert its surges to ground, a quality we should look for. It would be a good choice for interconnected equipment. There are other companies that do this as well. Surge units that have a joule rating should be replaced periodically as there is no way of knowing how many and what type of surges it has been exposed. If they sacrifice themselves to save your equipment then it did its job and replace it.

Good info BobL.

I think it was CEPro that had an interview, not that long ago, with the president of SurgeX. He claimed that joule ratings are one of those ratings that isnt really standardized. Kind of like watts on an amplifier.

With some brief reading on the SurgeX site, it looks like their units are designed to minimize surges that arise from within the residence.

I wouldn't use one in a resi job without whole-house protection, at the service entrance, to help limit effects from nearby lightning strikes. But I'm no expert, by far.