what is the best kind of surge protector you can get?
A majority will post junk science that is so popular. Never provided with numbers. Better answer is found in the few who actually learn what has worked for over 100 years. The NIST (US government research agency) defines what is used anywhere when damage cannot occur:
> You cannot really suppress a surge altogether, nor "arrest" it. What
> these protective devices do is neither suppress nor arrest a surge, but
> simply divert it to ground, where it can do no harm.
So which protector has that dedicated wire to make that low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to single point earth ground? Ineffective protectors have no dedicated wire. Hope is you will ignore what provides protection. No protector provides protection. Protectors connect to what provides protection. Protection is: earth ground.
That megavolt.com citation is full of useful, confusing, and half truth information. But let's only discuss what provides surge protection. Earth ground. Which ground does that citation discuss? Safety ground. Earth ground could be completely removed and that indicator light would still report safety ground as OK. Obviously those grounds are different. Megavolt.com is full of some good facts mingled with many myths and half truths.
If megavolt properly directed you to effective surge protection, it would have said what the NIST also says:
> A very important point to keep in mind is that your surge protector will
> work by diverting the surges to ground. The best surge protection in
> the world can be useless if grounding is not done properly.
Did megavolt.com mention that? No. Megavolt.com has recommended protectors that do not even claim protection in numeric specs. Yes, another fact you should have. If that plug-in protector does what so many claim, then that 'complete protection' device lists each type of surge and numbers for protection from that surge. It does not claim protection from any type of surge. Its specification make no protection claims. No problem to many who only heard sales propaganda - who never need numbers to know.
The NIST said what an effective protector must do: divert a surge to ground, where it can do no harm. That can only happen when located at the service entrance; within feet of earth ground; distant from appliances. A surge must be harmlessly absorbed in earth.
But if a surge is permitted inside the building, that energy hunts for earth destructively via appliances. A protector too far from earth and too close to an appliance may even earth that energy destructively via the appliance. We even traced a plug-in protector earthing a surge through a network of powered off appliances. The protector gave that surge a destuctive path that bypassed protection inside each computer.
So what is the most important factor anywhere that surge protection is installed? Earthing. Where surge energy dissipates. If a recommendation does not define where energy is absorbed, then it has not been sufficiently honest.
Again, an overwhelming majority will recommend only what retail sales propaganda has promoted. Will not even discuss what must dissipate the surge. Do not even know the sound byte that applies to all surge protectors: No earth ground means no effective protection. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.
100 years of experience defines the protectors that are effective. NIST simply repeated what is standard anywhere that damage cannot happen. "The best surge protection in the world can be useless if grounding is not done properly." A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.
