Surge Suppressor and clean power???? - Page 3

As best I can tell the Adcom units are the only non-MOV units discussed so far that have both coaxial and telephone line surge protection built in. The 315 has one set of each and the 615 has 2 coaxial and 1 phone pair. These units sound to me like the best solution for reliable surge protection of home theater components. My only reservation in buying is that it seems to me the Adcom technology (ILS) is different than the Zerosurge (series mode). Can anyone clear this up?

jbarraza,

I think Adcom is using their own name for the same technology, probably for marketing purposes. My recollection of the description made it sound identical. Can't say this for certain without re-researching, it's been too long since I studied up on this.

Obviously Newbie Question of the Day:

Will plugging a UPS (I also have an APC) into a unit like the zerosurge or Brickwall unit give you any problems or do they coexist nicely?

I'm in Central (east) Florida (lightning capitol of the US) and in a neighborhood that Florida Plunder and Loot.. err Power and Light likes to put in darkness at least once a week. A UPS is necessary because I have a 50" DLP on the way and I've read it doesn't like abrupt power loss and after spending that much on electronics I want something more to protect them than a designed-to-fail surge system in the UPS.

All said, I'm DAMNED glad I found this place. There is more information on these forums than I could digest in a lifetime. Makes me feel so much better having a resource like this available after spending way too much money on big boy toys

Sorry, I'm rambling, and slightly medicated so if the above makes no sense at all forgive me

They should coexist quite nicely
and give you an ideal solution for power handling
(real protection PLUS uninterruptibility).

Any opinions on the Panamax 4300? Is this MOV technology or that other one? Thanks.

Sliderman,

The info in my first July 11 post is still valid. Since the Panamax 4300 has a joules rating it is probably MOV-based. It certainly is not Series Mode based. No Series Mode surge suppressor even has a joules rating.

Thanks, Doug.

Sliderman, I've edited my 7/11 post to make it a little more meaningful (I hope!). Added an explanation of "joules ratings" and what they're really about. Thanks for nudging me to improve it.

I appologize for the very basic nature of these questions, but am hoping someone will be kind enough to clear up some of my confusion.

1 - What are "switched" outlets? When a surge protector or line conditioner has, say, 2 "always on" and 6 "switched" outlets, how many devices can I plug into it at the same time?

2 - If I have a device where the power cord does not reach to where a surge protector or line conditioner is housed, will running a simple extension cord from the protector/conditioner to the device give it the same protection? In the case of a line conditioner, will the extension cord mess up the conditioning? If I had to use this solution, should I be looking for some sort of premium or high-end extension cord, rather than something generic?

After reading this thread, I feel lucky that I no longer intend to spend $450+ on a Monster HTS 5100 or similar and instead can get a superior technology for a lower price; however, in looking at the 4 companies' products, and in reading some of these posts, I'm still a little confused about what my best overall option is. If I want something to plug into an outlet that I will then plug all my devices into - a reciever, a display, a hybrid player, a second DVD (bravo), and even a VCR - what's the best thing for both protection and for providing the best sound and video for the components plugged into it? It seems like the Adcoms (the 315 or 615) might be a good deal b/c they have both surge protection and line conditioning. Is this right? I saw that some of the brickwalls seem to be designed just for "audiophile" applications, for instance. Is the Adcom (or something else) a better overall product for my comprehensive use?

Thanks so much!!
Jack

Hopefully I can answer your questions satisfactorily.

1) Switched outlets are what they seem. There is a switch on almost all surge protectors and the outlets marked as 'switched' are the ones that are controlled by the switch. Turn off the switch, those outlets go dead. The ones that are always on are, you guessed it, always on regardless of the surge strip's switch being on or off. If you have 2 always on and 6 switched, then you still have 8 usable outlets.

2) As long as you keep the extension cord short, and heavy duty you should be ok. You can go to most hardware stores and pick up 'doglegs' which are heavyduty, heavy gage short extension cords. They make them for power tools and stuff so you can get between 3 and 9 feet without problem in most places.

I don't 'think' that a short, heavy gage extension cord would cause problems with a line conditioner as long as it (the cord) is of a decent quality. I wouldn't hit up Big Lots or the Dollar store to get them though . I would think that a short good quality extender wouldn't cause you any problems with your conditioners and such, but there are far, far more educated and experienced people on the board so hopefully someone else will chip in as well.

As far as your last question concerning the Adcoms and Brickwalls. It would seem that at first glance they are all compartively the same with the exception of each company's tweaks of the licensed technology (line conditioners and the like on some that aren't on others) and I really don't think you could go wrong with any of them but again, I am not much help here because I'm not the audio/videophile that you'd need to ask.

-Joe

Joe's answers seem right to me.

Aside from some noise filtering, the major difference in the "audiophile" versions from Brickwall is heavier gauge internal wiring. They have standard 15A plugs and receptacles for use on regular household circuits, but are internally wired for 20 amp service. This was done because some audiophiles with current-hungry power amps reported that the original, lighter-duty Brickwalls limited current and caused audible compression on dynamic passages.

I can't really compare the filtering/conditioning of Adcom vs. Brickwall. I wanted better filtering/conditioning than any of these units offer, so I got a Surgex for surge protection and a totally different (and much more costly) unit for the other purposes.

Thank you very much, JMitchell and Doug Deacon!!

Jack

Adcom 315 versus Brickwall 8R15A- I have the same question raised several times but not directly answered by anyone yet. Just getting started with my home theater and looking for good surge protection as well as some line conditioning for around $200.

As other have mentioned, Adcom offers the plus of COAX protection and Brickwall does not. I spoke to a Brickwall customer support person today who recommended Citel and APC products for COAX protection but would very much appreciate any expert opinions for this newbie. Will I get better surge protection and some added line conditioning from the Adcom or Brickwall? The price for either is approx. the same. Anmy good advice will be greatly appreciated as I need to purchase this weekend for my new widescreen and home theater.

Sully

You need to find out how the adcom handles the coax protection. If via MOVs, these are expendable, which means that someday the coax cable won't be protected, while the line voltage technology supposedly will not degrade.

And are all your coax cables located near the line level protection, or are you going to have extra cable and connectors to combine everything into one unit?

I use a Zerosurge unit (same as Brickwall), with some $5.00 Surgender in-line coax protectors located on my DSS and cable connections, where convenience.

I'm doing a major upgrade (for me) from a 27" tube to a 50" wide Panasonic LCD TV with a yet to be purchased surround sound. I expect to hook all of this up with a currently owned DVD so I don't know if that helps answer your question regarding where my coax cables are/will be located.

Are your Surgender protectors MOV based and subject to annual replacement?

Thanks

Why would you replace them anually? They should last longer than that. Most surge supressors will have some sort of light indicating if surge protection is functioning. Also, you can probably buy a new MOV for around $2.00. Does anyone do this for their surge protectors?

Here's a link with the specs of the Surgender. Sorry, no indicator lights on these. I am assuming that there is a loss of signal when they fail.

http://www.newtechindustries.com/new...ccess/se1k.htm

There is a "surge life" rating, which tells me they have a finite life span.

Doug, RE: Brickwall audio v. regular. I understood the main difference between aud and other brickwalls were that each outlet was isolated from the others. Maybe this is another way of saying what you said. I didn't get the impression there was any additional line conditioning.

JBach/Doug

When I spoke to Brickwall yesterday and asked the difference between the AUD and regular models, the rep told me that he only recommends the AUD model if you are using a turntable (The turntable some sort of noise/signal that can interfere with the other circuitry). You may want to call Brickwall yourself (their # is at Brickwall.com) - the customer service rep was very informative and sounded like he new what he was talking about.

I've been reading the posts on this forum and just want to confirm, Brickwall first, UPS second and equipment plugged into UPS should provide excellent protection. Correct?

Correct.

jkhome wrote of a certain coax surge protector, "I am assuming that there is a loss of signal when they fail."

Why would you make such a dangerous assumption? When an MOV-based AC surge protector fails there's no loss of AC. Quite the opposite. Now everything that's on the circuit flows through.

Good point...I'll check it out and get back to ya!

OK...called the manufactuer (see link below) in Fla. They stated that the unit would not pass a signal after failure. I asked them to send me an e-mail for a written statement to copy/paste...still waiting for that.

http://www.pdi-sat.com/

Just to give all a heads up about coax surge protection, just in case you did not read my problems that were occuring on my ATSC OTA signals.

I was getting cutouts of my signal all the time, whenever my fridge dumped ice, water solenoid kicked in, my heater kicked on, central air kicked on, ceiling fans changed speed or got turned off, etc. After I hooked up an inexpensive Panamax DBS surge protector on the coax, it now is gone 99.999% of the time and I highly recommend a coax surge protector to EVERYONE, transient voltages are your enemy with a digital OTA signal, of course lightning strikes too, but you will have more problems more often with transient voltages being fed to your coax.

Jim

Which Panamax DBS did you use?

Thanks,

Jeff

MAX DBS+, I bought it a few years ago though.

Jim

jkhome,

Great job researching. Looks like the Surgender is a safe and cost-effective solution for coax protection. I'm going to order a couple myself.

May I have your permission to add the Surgender links to my original 7/11 post. That way it can be a one-stop resource for anyone looking for surge protection information.

Doug

"May I have your permission to add the Surgender links to my original 7/11 post. That way it can be a one-stop resource for anyone looking for surge protection information."

Sure...don't know why you would need it (rules-what rules?). I found this forum from hanging out at the "asylum", where cutting/pasting old threads are common place. But I think that's due to the fact the once a thread gets past the "front page"or there after, it's history, delegated to the archives.

BTW, I have no relationship with PDI-SAT, just happened that the local electronics store carries their product. It does seem like a lot of satellite installers use them.

Thats a new one for me , MOV stands for 'Metal Oxide Varistor' not 'Moving Oxide Varistor' .

MrMagoo

I have a question - what kind of on-board surge projection to some of the better RP sets feature?

I realize that many people here have spent from $2,000 to far, far more than that on single large electronic devices like a RPTV. If I spend $5,000 on a top quality set, should my expectation be that it has, at the minimum, some line conditioning ability built in? It seems borderline ludricrous to assume not, and yet I suspect that may be the case.