Complex home electronics such as a computer and its peripherals need quality power. Fluctuations and excessive interference can easily disable equipment or significantly reduce its service life. However, the electricity supplied to apartments and private houses is far from ideal. That is why users often have to purchase expensive stabilizing devices. But there is a way out that does not require such significant costs - this is a surge protector with switches for each outlet. Today we will talk about him.
Surge protector: what is it and what is it for
Increase in service life, protection against drops or power surges - all this is the task of the block of sockets with switches. A separate protection is installed on each outlet in such a device, and therefore, if one of the household appliances breaks downdevices, a short circuit, only it will turn off, and the rest will work normally. There are also cheaper models of network filters, on which only one toggle switch is installed, but such blocks, in an emergency, turn off the power at all points of power supply.
Main device tasks
Surge protectors with switches for each outlet perform many useful tasks for electronics:
- Providing protection against impulse surges. This happens during lightning strikes during a thunderstorm.
- Getting rid of electromagnetic interference. Noise interference comes from operating microwave ovens, electric motors, and even radios.
- Sudden rise or fall in voltage. This is not uncommon, especially in private sectors with worn-out transformer substations. Network filters successfully cope with a similar problem.
- Overloads and short circuits. Often people connect many different household appliances to one block of sockets. If the automatic protection in the control cabinet is not properly selected, the wiring may overheat and flare up. A filter with a switch for each outlet will save the user from such a danger.
- Additional security in the absence of the user. When leaving, you can simply press the key and not worry that the device will remain energized.
Differences between models of similar devices
Surge protectors can differ from one another in many waysparameters. Some of them can be determined visually - this is the length of the cord and the number of outlets. However, when choosing, you should pay attention to some technical characteristics, including the presence of protection against overloads and short circuits, filtering and voltage surges. These features may be missing (all or some), which significantly affects the cost of an extension cord with switches per outlet.
It is important to pay attention to the maximum operating current limit. At a low value, the device will constantly turn off. To approximately understand what operating current will be when connecting household appliances, you need to add up their power, and divide the resulting value by the voltage indicator in the network. This is the simplest and inaccurate version of the calculations, but it will give a general idea of \u200b\u200bthe magnitude of the current. For example, the power consumption of devices planned to be connected through a surge protector with switches for each outlet is 2.6 kW (2600 W). Then the maximum current that the block must withstand will be 2600/220=11.8 A. With this value, it would be optimal to purchase a filter with a maximum operating current of 16 A.
Helpful advice! The socket into which the device will be connected must also withstand a current of 16 A. Otherwise, it will burn out, damaging the plug of the unit.
Use of surge protectors in apartments and private houses
When choosing such a device, it should be understood that it is not suitable for every home. For example, the private sectorwhere electricity is intermittently turned off or significant power surges occur, it is not the best option to use a surge protector with switches for each outlet. Here, it would be more rational to purchase an uninterruptible power supply device, which will not only protect data, but also provide electronics with ideal power in terms of parameters.
If the filter is purchased only for preventive purposes and power surges are not typical for an apartment, it makes sense to choose a device with one switch - it will cost much less. But on the length of the wire, everyone will have to decide on their own. Here the choice will depend on the remoteness of the equipment from the power point. However, in apartments, computers are often located in close proximity to sockets, so there should not be any problems here.
The finishing touch
Acquiring a surge protector is most often a necessity. Regardless of whether there are voltage drops, such a device will come in handy first of all in order to get rid of interference from working household appliances. Based on the rather high cost of computers and peripherals, such protection will not be superfluous. The main thing is to make the right choice and buy a surge protector with the characteristics that are necessary for certain equipment.
