Bought a $500 Surge X and don’t know if I want to return or not

[Fred H]

Twenty years ago our family house in VT was struck by lightning because the lightning rods hadn't been properly maintained. Lightning traveled across the wooden floor from the telephone wires towards my uncle, who was seated at a table 10 feet away; happily, it didn't reach him. Most electrical appliances were destroyed. But the burglar alarm, protected by a ZeroSurge (same technology as the Surge X), wasn't damaged. The alarm panel has since been upgraded, but the ZeroSurge is still in service. I think of such protection the same way I think of buying the best tires I can find: If it's needed once, it's paid for itself!

 

[T0paz]

My fear with MOV ones is that I read so many stories, reviews with photos of them burning or frying electronics during a storm, I mean they're so cheap at $20-40, chances are some of them may be faulty, i found these reviews and stories from all brands, some more than others it seems

I read many stories of people's play stations 5s for example being friend despite using a surge protector. I got stuff more valuable than my ps5

considering I live in south florida where storms and hurricanes happen often, I'm surprised I never had any issues before, but I didn't have all the equipment I have now back then

and I also plan on buying more equipment as I'm a guitar player, so I will be buying an amp modeler and other stuff which needs power

A while ago I made a thread is zero surge and surge x are worth it and people said yes, now i get comments that it may not? lol

I could've bought zero surge $325 but i wanted 10 outlets not 8

you can safely plug an MOV based outlet strip with many outlets to expand the available number of outlets. Just don't use the COAX or ETHERNET/Phone jacks on the MOV strip (instead secure those at the buildings entrance with a ground jack).

 

[Pancreas]

I have the standalone 8 outlet which costs like $620 new and rarely found used and if so is still expensive

I cant connect a mov strip to this as is daisy chaining

I wouldn’t mind having another one.

I dont like the idea of buying 2 outlet series more and then plug a mov, too many cables and stuff laying around

 

[NTK]

Or you can subscribe to Florida Power and Light's Electronics Surge Protection program, or if you are the homeowner, the SurgeShield program too (which actually installs a surge protector at the electricity meter).

Surge Protection

www.fplhome.com

https://www.fplhome.com/content/fpl-home/supportcenter/faq.html

 

[T0paz]

I have the standalone 8 outlet which costs like $620 new and rarely found used and if so is still expensive

I cant connect a mov strip to this as is daisy chaining

I wouldn’t mind having another one.

I dont like the idea of buying 2 outlet series more and then plug a mov, too many cables and stuff laying around

I asked the owner of Zero Surge if I can attach an MOV strip to add more outlets and he said that's what many of their customers do and it's fine as the Series Mode filter will ensure the MOV strip(s) never see a surge. You can ask him or Donna if it's acceptable if you want independent information.

I can understand you not wanting to daisy chain MOV strips as they could be creating unnecessary surges each time an MOV turns on and that could be a real headache but you won't have that issue if you put a Series Mode in front of anything. Even APC once said that the only way to protect a UPS was to place a Series Mode filter in front of it.

If you know that an outlet on a branch circuit is the first outlet on that circuit from the mains panel and you plug a series mode filter into it, it should provide protection for the remaining outlets on the same branch circuit which are daisy chained (in the wall) from the first outlet

Best of luck to you.

 

[RayDunzl]

I lived in Florida for decades and never had any equipment fry or fail tbh

Did you have underground utilities, then, or now?

Common in somewhat newer Florida construction.

Not so likely where the ground is rocks instead of sand.

 

[Pancreas]

I asked the owner of Zero Surge if I can attach an MOV strip to add more outlets and he said that's what many of their customers do and it's fine as the Series Mode filter will ensure the MOV strip(s) never see a surge. You can ask him or Donna if it's acceptable if you want independent information.

I can understand you not wanting to daisy chain MOV strips as they could be creating unnecessary surges each time an MOV turns on and that could be a real headache but you won't have that issue if you put a Series Mode in front of anything. Even APC once said that the only way to protect a UPS was to place a Series Mode filter in front of it.

If you know that an outlet on a branch circuit is the first outlet on that circuit from the mains panel and you plug a series mode filter into it, it should provide protection for the remaining outlets on the same branch circuit which are daisy chained (in the wall) from the first outlet

Best of luck to you.

He was probably referring to connecting a MOV to the 2 outlet units. This works, as is not daisy chaining. I read on their site that attaching a MOV to anything except the 2 outlet models is not recommended.

https://zerosurge.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/6R-8R-Series-04-22.pdf

This is the manual for the 8 outlet models. If you scroll down it says "This series may not be daisy chained with power strips, surge protector, or UPS"

Since I have the Surgex 8 outlet standalone. I can't use a UPS with it. It would be daisy chaining. I'd rather not do that.

 

[Pancreas]

Or you can subscribe to Florida Power and Light's Electronics Surge Protection program, or if you are the homeowner, the SurgeShield program too (which actually installs a surge protector at the electricity meter).

Surge Protection

www.fplhome.com

https://www.fplhome.com/content/fpl-home/supportcenter/faq.html

I may do this for the extra protection, but you still want a good surge protector at the outlet.

 

[NTK]

I may do this for the extra protection, but you still want a good surge protector at the outlet.

The best place to install a surge protector is at the service entrance. See Amir's post.

PS Audio Ultimate Outlet Review

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Receptacle-Tester-RT110/206517828 One of these Receptacle testers will easily and safely let you know if they have developed a fault. You also can get a fancier version that shows voltage as well as faults plus tests GFCI outlets. Either is available at...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[T0paz]

He was probably referring to connecting a MOV to the 2 outlet units. This works, as is not daisy chaining. I read on their site that attaching a MOV to anything except the 2 outlet models is not recommended.

https://zerosurge.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/6R-8R-Series-04-22.pdf

This is the manual for the 8 outlet models. If you scroll down it says "This series may not be daisy chained with power strips, surge protector, or UPS"

Since I have the Surgex 8 outlet standalone. I can't use a UPS with it. It would be daisy chaining. I'd rather not do that.

I think what they are trying to say is do not plug a Series Mode filter into a UPS (many have built in MOV based surge protection) or an MOV based surge protector.

You can however safely plug a UPS or another MOV based surge protector into a Series Mode filter since the filter will ensure that nothing plugged into it receives a surge.

My setup where I have a UPS (on computers) is:
Wall -> (Advanced) Series Mode filter -> (A) UPS -> devices requiring battery, (B) Devices not requiring a battery

The more devices you plug in, the more loads you have to keep track of. There are meters you can purchase inexpensively that let you monitor the total load in Amps, Watts, VA, etc ... In our main home theater where we have more than 30 devices and we rarely see more than 5 Amps in all with all the devices powered from a single SurgeX SX-1115-RT. Everything is in a huge wall unit and all the wiring is labeled (both ends) and hangs over and out of several back panels to make it easier to dust/vacuum behind the wall unit. There are three non-MOV strips (10 outlets each) with ears and feet as well as an old Monster 10-outlet MOV based device with ears and feet.

Here is a link to a technote from ZeroSurge on How to Protect a UPS by plugging the UPS into a Series Mode filter.

 

[Speedskater]

I can understand you not wanting to daisy chain MOV strips as they could be creating unnecessary surges each time an MOV turns on and that could be a real headache

MOV's don't create surges at turn-on or at turn-off. At turn-on a MOV becomes a low resistance path across the conductors.

 

[T0paz]

MOV's don't create surges at turn-on or at turn-off. At turn-on a MOV becomes a low resistance path across the conductors.

Correct, however when the MOV turns on it will shunt surge energy to the NEUTRAL and GROUND conductors where those (new) surges now have a chance to do more damage as the surges don't simply vanish. Surges like to travel in straight line paths and when was the last time anyone had point-to-point wiring to the mains panel? So anything plugged in a nearby outlet on the same branch circuit is a target for the new surges.