I just bought a 61" Samsung DLP.

How important is getting a good surge protector (I'm guessing "very").

How important is getting "clean noise" -- Circuit City is recommending
a $80 Monster Power which has "clean noise"...

Thanks for any help,

Bharat

In article VfvUd.66322$8a6.43276@trndny09,
"R. Bharat Rao" wrote:

I just bought a 61" Samsung DLP.
How important is getting a good surge protector (I'm guessing "very").

It is pretty important. Power glitches can reduce the life of
the equipment, lead to failures, and cause random glitches in
the program.

How important is getting "clean noise" -- Circuit City is recommending
a $80 Monster Power which has "clean noise"...

If that is what they are saying, they are full of foo-foo.
Perhaps they meant that it cleans up (or removes) the noise.
The monster power unit is OK, but it isn't the best value.
One of those battery backup UPS devices used for computers
might be a better choice. You can get small ones for far
less than the monster unit they are selling. I would still
use an additional power filter on the output of the UPS
since you are dealing with sound and video equipment.
TripLite makes good power filters.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

"John A. Weeks III" wrote in message
...
In article VfvUd.66322$8a6.43276@trndny09,
"R. Bharat Rao" wrote:

I just bought a 61" Samsung DLP.
How important is getting a good surge protector (I'm guessing "very").

It is pretty important. Power glitches can reduce the life of
the equipment, lead to failures, and cause random glitches in
the program.

How important is getting "clean noise" -- Circuit City is recommending
a $80 Monster Power which has "clean noise"...

If that is what they are saying, they are full of foo-foo.
Perhaps they meant that it cleans up (or removes) the noise.
The monster power unit is OK, but it isn't the best value.
One of those battery backup UPS devices used for computers
might be a better choice. You can get small ones for far
less than the monster unit they are selling. I would still
use an additional power filter on the output of the UPS
since you are dealing with sound and video equipment.
TripLite makes good power filters.

John,

The $80 Monster Unit is joint surge protector (1800 joules) and clean power.
Does the TripLite offer both?

Thanks for any help,

Bharat

Lets look at the quality of that Monster Cable product.
Take a $3 (retail) power strip. Add some $0.10 components.
Sell it as a Monster Cable product for how much? You too
would love to have this price markup. Why would a salesman in
Circuit City, with no basic electrical knowledge, recommend
that Monster Cable product? What is his motive?

All appliances contain protection that can be effective at
the appliance. If that plug-in protector was so effective,
then those parts are already inside the appliance. Internal
appliance protection that is effective if not overwhelmed by
the typically destructive transient.

Every incoming utility must connect to the same protection.
What is that protection - a protector? Of course not. Junk
science reasoning using word association says "surge protector
= surge protection". That internal appliance protection,
instead, assumes the single point earth ground (the
protection) connects 'less than 10 feet' to every incoming
utility.

Some utility wires connect directly to protection without a
protector - ie. cable and satellite dish. Others require a
'whole house' protector to make that 'less than 10 foot'
connection. Once we eliminate the hype (from those educated
by Circuit City salesmen), then we can move on to what
professionals say. For example, this figure from the NIST
demonstrates why even multiple earth grounds can compromise
the protection 'system':
http://www.epri-peac.com/tutorials/sol01tut.html

How to identify ineffective protectors: 1) Protector has no
dedicate connection to the all so critical single point earth
ground, AND 2) manufacturer avoids all discussion about
earthing. Notice the Monster Cable product violates both.

'Whole house' protectors are so effective that the telco
installs one, for free, on your incoming phone line. Cable
company, if employees were properly trained, dropped their
cable down to the single point ground before rising back up to
enter building. But the most common source of destructive
transients is AC electric - which is also wires highest on the
utility poles and that connect directly to every appliance.

We still build new homes as if the transistor did not
exist. Therefore YOU must verify the integrity of single
point ground (ie. meet or exceed post 1990 National Electrical
Code requirements) and must install the 'whole house'
protector on AC electric. Some minimally sufficient 'whole
house' protectors are sold in Home Depot as Intermatic
IG1240RC and in Lowes under the Cutler Hammer and GE brand
names.

Yes, all electronics require building wide protection that
costs about $1 per protected appliance. So how much is that
Monster Cable product being pushed by a salesman? Salesman
who must avoid mentioning earth ground to sell a product that
may cost 80 times more money per protected appliance.

"R. Bharat Rao" wrote:
I just bought a 61" Samsung DLP.

How important is getting a good surge protector (I'm guessing "very").

How important is getting "clean noise" -- Circuit City is
recommending a $80 Monster Power which has "clean noise"...

Thanks for any help,

Personally I would buy a reasonably priced name-brand power thing and
avoid the Monster pricetag, as posters have mentioned. Monster brand
has this 'feel' to me that is reminiscent of Bose - ok product, lots of
hype, lots of markup. Monster does NOT make the best speaker cables,
for example, no matter what they say - there's brands out there that
cost 10x Monster and deliver more thruput. But who cares on a
bigscreen tv.

If you wanted to go all out I'd recommend what a friend once advised me
to do with my computer - plug a powerstrip into the wall, a power
conditioner (UPS into) that, then another power strip into the UPS,
then the TV into that.

Battery backup of course is kind of goofy for a TV, who cares.

Read their (manufacturer) specs with more care. That is if
you can even find numeric specs. Plug-in UPS manufacturers
make those specs difficult if not impossible to obtain. And
what would those numbers demonstrate? The plug-in UPS does
not even claim to provide effective protection. Since they
denied consumers of those specs, then urban myths often
promote that plug-in UPS for hardware protection.

Furthermore, the plug-in UPS can output transients when in
battery backup mode. This UPS works just as its specs claim.
When unloaded in battery backup mode, the 120 VAC power is two
200 volt square waves with a 270 volt spike between those
square waves. You tell me. What kind of protection does that
UPS really claim to provide?

Again, how to identify ineffective protector - such as that
plug-in UPS or power conditioner. 1) Has no dedicated
connector for a less than 10 foot connection to earth ground
AND 2) manufacturer avoids all discussion about earthing.

wrote:
Personally I would buy a reasonably priced name-brand power thing and
avoid the Monster pricetag, as posters have mentioned. Monster brand
has this 'feel' to me that is reminiscent of Bose - ok product, lots of
hype, lots of markup. Monster does NOT make the best speaker cables,
for example, no matter what they say - there's brands out there that
cost 10x Monster and deliver more thruput. But who cares on a
bigscreen tv.

If you wanted to go all out I'd recommend what a friend once advised me
to do with my computer - plug a powerstrip into the wall, a power
conditioner (UPS into) that, then another power strip into the UPS,
then the TV into that.

Battery backup of course is kind of goofy for a TV, who cares.

"w_tom" wrote in message
...
Yes, all electronics require building wide protection that
costs about $1 per protected appliance. So how much is that
Monster Cable product being pushed by a salesman? Salesman
who must avoid mentioning earth ground to sell a product that
may cost 80 times more money per protected appliance.

Tom, sorry... so how do I get "whole house surge protection"

You said the Home Depot product was not effective??

Thanks

Bharat

wrote in message
oups.com...
Personally I would buy a reasonably priced name-brand power thing and
avoid the Monster pricetag, as posters have mentioned. Monster brand
has this 'feel' to me that is reminiscent of Bose - ok product, lots of
hype, lots of markup. Monster does NOT make the best speaker cables,
for example, no matter what they say - there's brands out there that
cost 10x Monster and deliver more thruput. But who cares on a
bigscreen tv.

If you wanted to go all out I'd recommend what a friend once advised me
to do with my computer - plug a powerstrip into the wall, a power
conditioner (UPS into) that, then another power strip into the UPS,
then the TV into that.

Battery backup of course is kind of goofy for a TV, who cares.

I do -- I want something effective, simple, quick -- and if possible not too
expensive -- the UPS's I've seen don't quite have 400W (the TV alone is
200W) without getting a lot more than the Monster Power strip....

Could you recommend a reasonable surge protector that is as effective
as the MOnster brand ($50 if I wanted only a surge protector) and not
as expensive...

I reaalize the "clean power" thing is a red herring (and located the
source of the interference -- my new Blackberry, lying next to the
speaker:-)

Thanks

Bharat

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 04:52:32 GMT, "R. Bharat Rao"
wrote:

Tom, sorry... so how do I get "whole house surge protection"

Contact a competent local electrician and explain what you want. Make
sure that all incoming wires (power, telephone, cable) etc. are
grounded at a single point at the house entrance point and appropriate
surge protectors applied to them _at_this_point and that external
metallic structures, such as antenna masts and metallic dishes are
also grounded to this point.

A single plug-in surge protector in the TV mains plug is nearly
useless, if the TV is connected to a computer (e.g. for playing games)
and the computer is connected with a modem/ADSL to the phone line. A
surge from a badly protected phone line can flash over the modem/ADSL,
go through the computer and do some damage there, then move on to the
TV, do some damage there and then end up into the plug-in surge
arrester and finally into ground. The surge arrester worked, but
everything else had been damaged before that :-).

So it is really important that all the possible paths are protected
and it is much easier to do this at the point where all these wires
enter the house. But you really need a competent electrician to do
this, do not attempt to do it yourself.

Paul

All consumer electronics equipment from the large manufactures meet the ISO
standards for power supply design. These sets all have adequate protection.
The type of surge protector that you have in an AC bar at the cost you are
looking at may not even be as good as the one built in to the power supply
of your equipment.

The proper solution is to have a UPS that is rated to a more than double
that of the load that is is to be used on it. A good qauality UPS will
switch over to the battery inverter during power brownouts, which are the
types of disturbances that cause the most damage to equipment. As for
surges, a good UPS will have a very good design to also protect its own
systems.

As for these AC bars with surge protection, it is impossible for the price
that they are asking, to have a very good protection. If there is a
lightning strike near to you, most any system you can afford will never be
able to block the surge. Add the $80 to a discent UPS, and you will be much
better off to protect your equipment.

--

Jerry G.
======


"R. Bharat Rao" wrote in message
news:VfvUd.66322$8a6.43276@trndny09...
I just bought a 61" Samsung DLP.

How important is getting a good surge protector (I'm guessing "very").

How important is getting "clean noise" -- Circuit City is recommending
a $80 Monster Power which has "clean noise"...

Thanks for any help,

Bharat

In article kEbVd.66856$8a6.66218@trndny09,
"R. Bharat Rao" wrote:

"w_tom" wrote in message
...
Yes, all electronics require building wide protection that
costs about $1 per protected appliance. So how much is that
Monster Cable product being pushed by a salesman? Salesman
who must avoid mentioning earth ground to sell a product that
may cost 80 times more money per protected appliance.

Tom, sorry... so how do I get "whole house surge protection"

You can also call your power company. They will install a
unit that goes between the electrical meter and the meter
socket/frame. I recall mine being about $115, and it was
installed for free when they did the off-peak meter, plus
they billed it to my electrical bill (so I didn't have to
pay that day).

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

Previously posted:
Some minimally sufficient 'whole house' protectors are
sold in Home Depot as Intermatic IG1240RC and in Lowes
under the Cutler Hammer and GE brand names.

Responsible suppliers of electrical equipment also sell the
minimally sufficient protectors. Products from hyped
manufacturers as APC, Tripplite, Belkin, and Panamax don't
appear anywhere on a list of minimally sufficient. Additional
examples (a short list) of 'whole house' protectors include
other serious manufacturers such as Square D and Leviton:
http://www.smarthome.com/4870.HTML
http://www.smarthome.com/4860.html
http://www.ch.cutler-hammer.com/surg...ucts/chsp.html
http://www.leviton.com/sections/prod...d/npleadin.htm
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z1B7539A1 (Square D)
http://www.dale-electric.com/ditek.htm
http://www.deltala.com/prod01.htm
http://www.deltala.com/prod02.htm
http://www.ditekcorp.com/dispInfo.cfm?ID=280
http://www.ditekcorp.com/dispinfo.cfm?id=579
http://www.ditekcorp.com/dispfamily.cfm?id=3
http://www.keison.co.uk/furse/furse06.htm
http://www.lightningrodparts.com/surge.html

Then there is a benchmark in protectors - www.Polyphaser.com
.. Just another name unknown to those who recommend useless
plug-in protectors.

But the best value is found in Lowes and Home Depot. And
lets not forget, the protector is the equivalent of wire in a
protection 'system'. The protection is earth ground. That
single point earthing must have, by far, your most attention.
Everything else in a protection 'system' is but a peripheral
to that #1 most critical component - earthing.

"R. Bharat Rao" wrote:
Tom, sorry... so how do I get "whole house surge protection"

You said the Home Depot product was not effective??

It is important to have a good air purifier also. LCD and DLP projectors
have air filters installed but they will not filter tobacco smoke and
other polluntants such as from wood burning stoves and gas fireplaces etc,
which will ruin the LCD and DLP projector optics! I have seen it too many
times as a TV repair tech.

Dave


On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 02:22:45 GMT, R. Bharat Rao
wrote:

I just bought a 61" Samsung DLP.

How important is getting a good surge protector (I'm guessing "very").

How important is getting "clean noise" -- Circuit City is recommending
a $80 Monster Power which has "clean noise"...

Thanks for any help,

Bharat





--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/