Electronics, PC's, Home Theater Stystems and Power Surges

It is wonderful to own a Home Theater System, Computers, wide screen Televisions. Mans advancement in electronics is moving faster than we can purchase the new Items. However along with these advancements comes a down side. For Electronics it is the power surges also known as a spike!

Electronic systems rely heavily on a smooth clean power source, however this will never happen while we have Switches, Motors and many other things including lightning.

When someone switches on a light or a vacuum cleaner or other device, power suddenly drains from the main power grid and so the system tries to compensate for it by supplying the additional voltage to replace the drain. This sudden incoming rush is called a power surge which can and only for the briefest of moments, raise the power levels even up to double the incoming supply. This passes through every appliance that is switched on in the house, even those on stand by mode.

In Australia our power supply is 240 volts but it doesn't matter what your counties rate is, a Power Surge is a spike any voltage that is above that which an item depends on to operate. After saying that most goods do have an allowance for an over voltage rise but not the type a power surge can bring. Now you can just imagine what sort of a mess can happen to our Home Theaters Computers etc. A power surge will damage them every time. Some times it is only a weakening other times the items can be totally cooked/burned out by a power surge or spike. A surprising exercise for you to try, is ask your insurance company, if a power surge is covered under there policy.

A power surge doesn't usually last long from about one millisecond to about 3 milliseconds although they has been known to last a lot longer. It takes a little less than a millisecond to do damage to your home theater, Television, computers and other electronic item.

Fortunately there does exist power surge protection units to safe guard against such power surges and well worth the price for such protection. Don't be confused by thinking you have a safety switch because a safety switch protects people not appliances. Power surge protection is different.

Power Surge Protectors are designed to clamp, shut off or absorb the spike or power surge and to react faster than the power surge itself, thereby saving our electronic equipment.

Watch out for our next article that will go on to explain more on how power surge protection works, what to check out or consider if you already have power surge protection, the big difference between a safety switch and power surge protection, what to look out for when considering a purchase. In the mean time for further information you may want to go to this website.