Just bought a new tv and got the whole spiel about Moster Power, the $500 device that protects your tv from power surges. Anyhow does anyone know of a more practicle protector that is more cost effective?

I've always had my TV's plugged into the plain stuff at Home Depot for $6 and they all still work fine. The only reason the store wants you to spend $500 on monster power is because they make more money off the $500 monster brand that is the same thing as the $20 'plain jane' brand.

If you are an overachiever (or live in a big thunderstorm area) you can spend $200 on a refurbished APC UPS (http://www.refurbups.com/APC-Smart-UPS-1400brbr?sc=1&category=3) that does line correction and has battery backup. One nice thing about that is if the power goes off you can still watch TV.

Yeah, I would not need battery backup but the reason I bought a new tv is becasue my tube tv was taken out by lightning, direct hit to house.

APC or Triplite is the way to go. Monster is overpriced and overrated.

I kind of forgot about this but in all seriousness, taking a direct hit to the house is going to nuke you anyway. There just isn't really protection for that short of lightning rods on the roof. If you plug in the TV to a foolproof surge device (or two, since you never know...) then your TV gets zapped through the RF cable from your cable box, or the RCA cables to your receiver, or anywhere there's a conductive path. For a direct-hit situation, then it's either lightning rod time or home-owner's insurance time.

I've had good experiences with Tripplite as well. Anything Monster can do, a competitor can do better for 1/4 the price.

APC makes some nice units; I have two J10 units. You can choose if you want to have a battery backup or not, but I've seen enough voltage sags on hot days that I wouldn't be without it.

I just bought a Monster MK1000 ($160) at best buy, it is good and recomended among some of the folks on forum, i was going to get a more expensive panamax system but after some research i found alot of the more expensive conditioners / surge protectors are overpriced and getting a unit like what i have is enough.

I have hd dvd toshiba hd1, xbox360, sony 50 e series tv, cable box and things are running smoothly.

Also i have read where some of these conditioners from monster and panamax have blown out and saved all the equipment and just a simple call to the manufacture and they will send you a new one. Anyway, its a good investment i think.

When it comes to direct strikes, you're buying for the insurance, not the device. Pick

For indirect strikes, brownouts, and the like, any solid company will do. APC, Belkin, Cyperpower, Panamax, Tripp-lite... Just pick the features you need and shop around for a good price.

I asked this on another thread but I have an APC 1500 left over from a server in my house I just pulled out, it would have a good function in HT??

Just bought a new tv and got the whole spiel about Moster Power, the $500 device that protects your tv from power surges. Anyhow does anyone know of a more practicle protector that is more cost effective?
What kind of TV? Having a power center that does line conditioning will help with picture quality and longevity. Especially for DLP/LCD projection types with a lamp in them. The lamp will last considerably longer with clean power. You should also look into a voltage stabilizer as well, since they keep the voltage constant, and you do not have fluctuations or possible issues from brown outs or surges when power comes back on after a storm.

Your best bet is to use a PWP20 20 amp Panel Mount Unit from brickwall. Put one of these on the room circuit next to the breaker box. It does not have sacrificial components, can take a direct hit thousands of times, and won't divert surges to the ground wire (which can destroy computer and audio systems).

I've got one on order for my HT and another for my office.

It does not have sacrificial components, can take a direct hit thousands of times, and won't divert surges to the ground wire (which can destroy computer and audio systems).
So wait... it takes a direct lightning strike, absorbs the whole thing (and clamps down fast enough to not leak current through) and does what, shrug and laugh? If that's true, then how do they do it? It sounds like a violation of physics to me.

I too am looking into some sort of surge protection and I have been told that a line filter will also help with plasma picture quality.

This will be used to power Yamaha YSP 11, small sub, plasma, cable box and DVD.

Would either of these products be adequate:

http://catalog.belkin.com/PureAV_detail.process?Product_Id=178938

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=3498

A lot of folks mention Tripp Lite, but it seems that there stuff is expensive. Is there a cheaper product that they have which can support the above mentioned hardware.

Thanks,

Dave

<snip>I have an APC 1500 <snip>would it have a good function in HT??

Personally, I believe that undervoltages are more important than spikes (within reason, 'natch). Yes, a correctly sized battery backup would great addition.

My concern would be how old the battery is. They do need to be replaced, IIRC, every few years.

I just ordered the tripplite today.

Almost all of these devices rely on mov to provide protection. I believe that the apc has an emi filter on its input.

I will probably add a brick wall before the ac unit to protect it.

So wait... it takes a direct lightning strike, absorbs the whole thing (and clamps down fast enough to not leak current through) and does what, shrug and laugh? If that's true, then how do they do it? It sounds like a violation of physics to me.

Not the unit itself! The line which it is protecting can take a direct hit. Of course, a direct lightening bolt on the unit will probably vaporize it.

I work with some extremely gifted electrical engineers (I'm a software guy) and they have seen the wiring diagrams of the Brick Wall units and confirmed that it would work as advertised, and commented that it is a clever design. Read through some of the tech stuff on the Brick Wall site.

Personally, I would not trust my equipment on anything else any more. In my home office, I've lost two VPN routers, a wireless AP, a motherboard, two power supplies, and one channel of a dual-channel VOIP adapter due to electrical storms--all on either a CyberPower 1250VA UPS or a TrippLite 550VA UPS. Even a transparent electrical cord that was attached to the UPS had a fried lead that you could see through the clear plastic. They both featured AVR and supposedly full power protection. In the very next room from my office lies my HT system which is attached to an audio-grade Brick Wall surge protector. None of those components ever got damaged during those same storms. I have lost many other devices that were on your standard surge protector power strips throughout the house, as well as my computer at work which was on an APC UPS AND standard surge protector. To this day, I have never seen one successfully sacrifice itself without leaving some damaged equipment behind.

I used this to install my high-mounted Panasonic TC-32LX700 LCD in my kitchen.

The site made it impractical to use a conventional UPS/strip surge protector, but since we have our fair share of electrical storms (not to mention that I have lost computer and video equipment to such events in the past), I felt uneasy about just running an unprotected conventional 15-amp circuit to the vicinity of the set.

Monster Power (though pricey) seemed to offer surge protection through this device (InWall PowerCenter) for both the 15-amp power circuit and the RF-connection (the unit provides protection for up to three RF connections but I only needed one of them). Their spec for the protection level for all connections was 1260 joules.

Admittedly, this is a solution for a special situation, but I could find no other comparable product. Panamax came close with something similar, but only offered protection for a 'satellite' TV protecting the power line and several signal connectors such as HDMI, component, etc., but not RF (presumably because RF is a direct connection and not a system-relayed connection). Panamax stressed ground isolation (to protect the main system from surge to the connected satellite TV) so their product is targeted to provide protection for system satellite devices, such as a remote TV rather than standalone electronic devices.

I do appreciate the posts in this thread about the BrickWall after-panel surge protector. I do not believe I had not come across that before. I will look into that further and possibly install that 'downstream' on the currently surge-protected-by-PowerCenter circuit as additional protection (even though it may not further protect the RF connection).

I have attached two photos showing my installation with the In-Wall PowerCenter from Monster Power. I picked the In-Wall PowerCenter up from TechOnWeb. Online pricing seems to be in the $100~$150 range.

Edit - 08/02/07: Also, FWIW, the Monster In-Wall Surge Protector affords some level of AC Line noise filtering.

I have the Monster 3600 (bought before I gained any knowledge on HT gear) and Tripplite Isobars, both do the same exact thing, Monster cost 500.00 Tripplite cost 70.00

For the Monster with the Voltage regulator inside cost 1,500 Tripplite Isobar and Voltage Regulator (both 160.00) both do the same exact thing.

From what I understand with a lightning strike these devices are created to break the signal path so no charge can reach your equipment (happens in like a microsecond) Anyway any reputable company offers insurance for your gear.

Anyway any reputable company offers insurance for your gear.

Careful, you've obviously not been reading the fine print. Don't ever expect to cash in on those "connected equipment" guarantees. I took a direct strike and still lost $2500 worth of stuff, even with whole house units and local surge protectors.

First, the fine print tells you that "no surge supressor can protect against all surges", and second, they say that if you go through all the trouble to send the surge protector to them, and they test it, and find it was DEFECTIVE, then they will pay off.

I don't think anyone guarantees they'll replace your equipment just because you got a surge beyond their unit's ability to protect.

In short, those big banners on the box about thousands of dollars worth of protection are all marketing hype.

What I found, and I expect is usually the case, is what you're really left with is a homeowner's claim on your insurance and you're out your deductable, whatever that is.

Anyone notice that the tripplite surge protector warranty is void if you use a ups to drive their surge protector?

I assume that is because they believe that the (possible) spikes caused by the ups would eventually destroy the mov. Anyone know for sure?

I have a wiring question that concerns surge supressors.

My home was built around 1965. My electrical wiring is still the original wiring that was installed at the time of construction. I did take and replace a few of the old 2 prong plug in's, with the standard 3 prong plugs used today. My question is...
Where all my home electronics are installed in the living room is still an old 2 prong plug. I was wondering if you could take and install a new 3 prong plug, and get a copper rod and wire, and ground that 1 plug under the house. I don't want to have to snake a ground wire back to the fusebox, as that will be pure hell to do. So will this work? could i just add a secondary ground to that one plug, with out going through alot of BS?

Reason i want to do this is, i got a new surge supressor, and from what i understand, it won't work right without that secondary ground.

PureAV™ Isolator Home Theater Surge Protector by Belkin
(http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=163009#)

is the monster avs 2000 signature series a voltage regulator AND a surge protector? if not i guess you also need to purchase a surge protector? what does a $2000 voltage regulator do that others don't? please, no monster bashing-just objective unbiased answers would be a help...

Edited to carry on my discussion in another thread regarding a specific product.