No, though that may be why *you* do. I'm more concerned with the far more common dips (and occasionally spikes), caused by other power loads (the AC compressor coming on), and backbone failures (transformer blew down the street) and lightning that struck somewhere else in the line (breakers tripped and power re-routed) than the much-more-rare "direct hit".
Lightning striking down the street is a direct strike to your appliances. Brownouts (sags) are not destructive despite the many who know otherwise (but cannot say why). International standards even in the 1970s for electronics required low voltage to cause no electronics damage. The chart is even blunter. The low voltage area has this phrase in capital letters: "No Damage Region". We who designed electronics even test everything by routinely running the voltage as low as possible to learn when the electronics cut out - of course with no damage.
And finally, if brownouts are destructive, the classic brownout (or sag or low voltage) is called power off. Every electronics device suffers brownouts when powered off. If brownouts were destructive, then power off would also be destructive.
Low voltage is harmful to electric motors. That is why utility voltages cannot dip below 5% for any extended time. Meanwhile, electronic standards state that it must work just fine - even start normally - when voltages are so low that incandescent bulbs are at 40%.
How many reasons state that low voltage is not destructive? And yet still the popular urban myth: hardware must be protected from low voltage. Reality. Hardware must be designed to make low voltage irrelevant. The UPS has only one function - to protect data from blackouts.
Meanwhile, quoting something from the APC sales brochure demonstrates where knowledge comes from - sales propaganda. There are no numbers in that subjective claim for very good reason. It protects from a type of transient that causes no damage. APC will never claim protection in numeric specs because, well, those few hundred joules will absorb destructive surges of hundreds of thousands of joules?
All electronics contain protection from silly and irrelevant transients. Surge protection is for the surge that can damage appliances - ie the direct lightning strike. That protection - that costs many times less than the APC - is what professionals use. My spend tens or 100 times more money for an APC that does not even claim to protection from the typically destructive surges. See the either myth about low voltage causing damage - which is why so many spend massively on a protector that does not even claim protection.
We expect no damage - even to the protector - with direct lightning strikes. Lesser transients are made irrelevant by protection routinely in appliances. Protection required even in 1960 electronics standards. Even dimmer switches and bathroom GFCIs have internal protection.
If APC provides any numbers that claim protection, then the exact spec is posted here. Why the URL? Typically, the poster has no idea which spec might claim surge protection. And so a vague, "Browse their website yourself" - because APC cannot and does not claim protection.
As the NIST said:
> The best surge protection in the world can be useless if
> grounding is not done properly.
That defines the APC devices recommended by those who even believed the myth about destructive brownouts.
Why is APC not grounded? Earthing means a short (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to earth. No wire splices. No sharp bends, Wire separated from all other non ground wires. Separation between protector and appliances. Better earthing. Every sentence violated by APC products.
What happens when the protector is too close to electronics? We engineers who traces these failures so that it never happened again found the plug-in protector earthing that surge destructively through a network of powered off computers. Why does your telco operate through every thunderstorm and about 100 surges per storm without damage. Telcos instead spend many times less money, connect each protector to single point earth ground, and then make the protection even better with an up to 50 meter separation between protector and electronics.
Therefore telcos suffer direct lightning strikes and no damage. No damage from direct lightning strikes is routine when one learns what protection really is.
Take a $3 power strip. Add some ten cent parts. That is sold for $7 in grocery stores. Or the same protector circuit sells for $25 or $150. APC protector circuit is same as the circuit selling in grocery stores for $7. Why does Monster Cable also sell the same thing? Monster Cable is famous for their scams including speaker wire with polarity. Monster Cable also want a piece of the action when so many just *know* it must work - convinced by subjective claims.
Why do munitions dumps also use what telcos use? Because all want protection. All do not want to spend tens or 100 times more money on the APC ... that does not even claim protection in numeric specs.
Protection routinely installed where no damage can happen - where was much of this pioneered? Munitions dumps. You can spend massively on the APC. Or you can use the superior solution even used in munitions dumps - and spend less money.
And finally, he claims no damage with APC stuff. Well, I have no plug-in protectors anywhere and never have damage. One friend even had 33,000 volts fall on the local distributions. Hundreds of electric meters literally blown 30 feet of the side of buildings. Many neighbors suffered electronics damage and destroyed APC protectors. He had no damage. Instead he had one properly earthed 'whole house' protector. He spent much less money, had a real surge, and no damage.
But then he had a friend who actually learned this stuff some decades ago. Someone who read numeric spec sheets, saw which protectors claim near zero protection, and advised him to avoid the scam.
How to identify the ineffective protector. 1) It has no dedicated wire always necessary for the short connection to earth. Not just any ground - earth ground. 2) Manufacturer avoids all discussion about earth ground. 3) It claims no protection from each type of surge - with numbers - in the manufacture specs. That defines the APC protectors - three times over.
Effective protector is located when each wire enters the building. Some utilities (ie cable) need no protector. Cable makes that less than 10 foot connection to earth with only a wire. Telco already installed a 'whole house' protector on every incoming phone wire - for free. But the most common source of surges is AC mains. Highest wires on utility poles mean a lightning strike down the street is a direct strike to all household appliances. Informed consumers install one 'whole house' protector on AC mains.
But again, a protector is only as effective as its earth ground. No earth ground (ie APC) means no effective protection. You - the homeowner - are responsible for providing sufficient earthing. Earthing that must both meet and exceed post 1990 National Electrical code. And connections from each protector that meet the many 'low impedance' requirements - ie 'less than 10 feet', no sharp wire bends, etc. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. Why does APC not discuss critical parameter for protection - no sharp wire bends? APC is about profit margins - not protection.
