Re: Surge Suppressors
Most surge supressors use MOV's (Metal Oxide Varisters) to 'suppress' incoming power surges, as well as being fused in the event the MOV's cant take care of the incoming power surge.
See attached picture
Since a MOV is just a type of resistor, any increase in voltage will cause the MOV to start grounding out the incoming signal above 120v (or whatever they're rated at).
In other words, think of these MOV's as air tanks that can hold 5 psi. When you attempt to over fill them, a blow off valve starts letting out the excess pressure (grounding out excess incoming power). If the incoming pressure is too much for the blow off valve to release, a safe guard trips shutting down all incoming air (the fuse), thus preventing an explosion (meltdown of your electronics)
Power strips are mostly for stopping TRANSIENT power surges, with their source being a disturbance on the power grid which makes it into your house.
Now, there are lots of things protecting your home's electronics from the evil power goblins outside, such as your main breaker (usually 100-200amps) and the circuit breaker (20-30amps). If the incoming surge doesn’t pop these breakers, then it's nothing a K-Mart surge strip can’t handle.
What you have to worry about, it electronics feeding back on the same circuit, OR, outside surges (such as lightning, as you stated). So, lets go over these.
Device Frying: Fact of the matter is, it cant surge more than 120v/30a usually. Why? Since the device REQUIRES power, it's not going to surge back more than available. It cant just MAKE more power
For this case, you'd want a solid surge protector (fused) and if the MOV's cant handle the surge, the fuse will more than likely blow.
Lightning: Depending where the lightning strikes, you MIGHT be okay. Lightning will take the shortest path possible to the ground. This will sometimes be pipes, structural metal, or sometimes your electrical lines. So there IS a chance that your electronics would survive but ONLY because the flow of electrons was NOT through them. If some of your electronics are in the path of the flow of electrons, it will pop and jump the fuse, continuing to fry your home theatre.
So the usual rule of thumb is just buy a quality brand, and modestly rated surge suppressor, and you should be okay for non-acts of god.
Re: Voltage Stabilization
Here's a
Link to a previous discussion, where in I brought up the point:
There is a debate on the usefulness of the AVS2000 and items of its likes.
All modern electronics run off DC power. The rectifiers in these electronics convert the incoming AC to DC. High current rectifiers use what’s called a reservoir capacitor, which is used to deliver a smoother DC signal. This also supplies extra current to the rectifier, which normally can compensate on the DC end for voltage drops.
Depending on the size of the reservoir capacitor (> 10,000uF), it should be able to keep the DC current and wave stable. An example of this is when the power blinks on/off. Some of your components might not COMPLETELY lose power. This is because the capacitors in the power supplies were able to carry the load enough so to keep the unit 'brown' instead of off.
Normally your AC should never drop below 115v unless there's some serious pull on the line or your house is wired funny. Even WITH your system in use, the line should still stay above 110v.
How mandatory is the AVS2000? Eh... you could find alternative solutions that are much cheaper that don’t bear the monster label. You could just pick up a power conditioner and plug it into a
APC Line-R Automatic Voltage Regulator. Only $59 and performs the exact same task of stepping up or stepping down incoming line voltage. In fact, you could pick up about ten of these babies and still be 50% cheaper than the Monster AVS2000.
I think for now I'll just stick with the Power Conditioner and be happy with that.
