How many joules in a surge protector?

[DonGallego28]

I'm about to purchase a 30 in widescreen tv and I'm gonna have that connected to a 5cd panasonic dvd player and a panasonic surround sound system. How many joules should the surge protector have? I wanna be able to have an adequete amount.

[lumis]

i've never put much stock in surge protectors.. lightning can destroy just about all of them.. i'd make sure to purchase a warranty from the manufacturer (not from the retailer), and make sure that warranty covered acts of god... such as lightning..

[ebenton]

I don't think you need jewels. Cubic zirconium or glass ought to be OK. But seriously, folks, a joule is the work done when the point of application of 1 newton is displaced a distance of 1 meter in the direction of the force.
A newton is that force which gives to a mass of 1 kilogram an acceleration of 1 meter per second per second. One newton equals 100,000 dynes. A dyne is that force which will give an acceleration of 1 cm per second per second to a free mass of 1 gram.
So, figure out how much all of your stuff weighs (in kilograms) and figure out how big your room is (in meters/centimeters). Then figure out how many joules it would take to make your stuff hit the wall that is farthest from it. That's how big a surge protector you need.
But seriously again folks, an average 3-mile long lightning strike is anywhere from about one billion to ten billion joules.
Just get a surge protector that can handle the current your stuff uses when it's running normally. The breaker on it will trip if it gets too big of a spike. If your house gets hit by lightning, all bets are off.

[lordsmurf]

Read the boxes on everything and do the math.

[TBoneit]

One addendum, Get a brand name one that will tell you when it is worn out or if it can not protect due to your outlet not being wired properly and will provide insurance if surge damage gets through.

APC surge protectors for example provide these functions. You pay more but you get what you pay for.

Or alternatively get a big enough UPS with the same functions and protections as above.

Cheers

[TBoneit]

And if lightning hits to damn close hope your homeowners (Renters) covers it.

We've had customers come in where the chimney took a hit fried lots of things. Another person Storm took dwon a tree and caused a high voltage line hit the house feed. We saw them for the computer stuff to give an estimate for repair to go to homeowners.

Cheers

[MJA]

I agree with TBoneit about the UPS

[MJA]

If u have the dough .lol check this site out
http://www.zerosurge.com/residential.html

[DonGallego28]

thanks guys i'm gonna get an apc one that i saw at best buy...it's a reputable brand and it's a lifetime guarantee so i should be ok

[TBoneit]

APC is a good brand, be sure not to get the bottom of the line model, The better surge protector for example will warn when it has absorbed all it can and the better UPS's will switch over quicker and have a longer run time.

There is also a whole house Surge protector that has to be installed by a licensed electrician since it gets installed in the breaker panel. However it'll protect everything against all but high voltage surges. Direct Hits or a 3000 volt line falling onto your house feed for example, not really a surge in these cases. BTW if you have a fax modem that you use get a surge protector for it too. This would include the modems used for PPV in Sattelite TV receivers for example.

Cheers