Zero surge and surgeX are overpriced as hell

[dorakeg]

The only hard (and this means expensive) part is certification.

Yes, it's not easy and it's very expensive. Without highly qualified engineers and proper testing equipment, it's not possible. If you have the necessary qualifications and skills, would you want to be paid peanuts?? I highly doubt so. Highly specialised equipment needed for testing are very expensive as well.

 

[fpitas]

This may not be the best place to get your feet wet in DIY electronics. 5V at 10mA to a transistor is one thing, but lethal line voltages are quite another.

 

[Fred H]

Yes, manufacturer published performance measures are not as credible as third party published measures. All other things being equal, it would be nice to have third party objective performance measures.

Sure, nothing can protect against a direct strike. My losses were very likely downstream from the actual strike, since the power company also had to repair equipment to restore service.

I have an anecdotal report: 25 years ago our family house in rural Vermont (at the top of a local maximum), equipped with lightning rods, had its alarm panel destroyed by lightening 4 times in 2 years. The burglar alarm company -- no surprise -- told us that any new lightning damage would be at our expense. They had provided a conventional (MOV) surge protector after the first 2 strikes, but the house is struck frequently and it apparently stopped working. I found ZeroSurge, installed their lowest-cost unit, and we have had no lightning damage to the alarm panel since its installation.

Edit: lightning, not lightening -- there's no weight change

 

[kongwee]

Many will sell you a magic stone that protect your system with money back guarantee and 99,9% satisfied customers.

Can't pass insurance for sure.

 

[Pancreas]

So buy a 2 outlet protector and plug a power bar into it.

the whole idea of getting these surge x or whatever is to have peace of mind, no? that you have a better protector made of steel unlikely to catch fire or something

then why introduce a power bar to the equation? it becomes the weak link of the setup, made of plastic, mov or not, it could catch fire

 

[Fred H]

made of plastic

Metal ones cost more, but they are available.

 

[Harris48]

Wow that’s expensive! They are definitely selling you fear not value

I would think it’s cost a fraction of a fraction to be sure your homeowners or renters insurance covers that with a full replacement/upgrade rider.

Aww golly gee my Hypex nc400s, denon 3700, etc got fried. Thank you for the Hypex nc500s and denon 3800 Mr insurance company guy.

I have two APC surge protectors for minor stuff but they cost about $100 on sale

 

[Dismayed]

My 10 outlet surge protector arrived today from Zero Surge. I removed 4 screws and added 4 rubber feet to convert it from rack mount to stand alone. Build quality seems excellent, and it was made in New Jersey.

Maybe I could build one myself for less, but why bother? I could save money by making my own clothes and growing my own food, too. But I’d rather spend my time listening to music.

 

[Pancreas]

My 10 outlet surge protector arrived today from Zero Surge. It removed 4 screws and added 4 rubber feet to convert it from rack mount to stand alone. Build quality seems excellent, and it was made in New Jersey.

Maybe I could build one myself for less, but why bother? I could save money by making my own clothes and growing my own food, too. But I’d rather spend my time listening to music.

do you have a link or photo? whats the model? how did you convert it from rack mount to stand alone?

 

[Dismayed]

do you have a link or photo? whats the model? how did you convert it from rack mount to stand alone?

I have the 15 amp model:

10R Series - Zero Surge

10R Series Customer Reviews 10R-1U-15W-I - #-002-00142 Converts from a standard 1U rack mount to a modular unit with the rubber feet provided 10 outlets (8 on back, 2 on front); master on/off switch controls all 10 outlets and an auxiliary switch

zerosurge.com

I only had to remove 4 screws to take off the rack mount bracket, and 4 rubber feet were included in the package.

 

[ReevaluateAdNauseam]

Just bought another 8 outlet ZeroSurge unit for the HT, GREAT company with excellent product and made in the USA.
Don’t like the price… don’t buy it!

Completely agree, the price is more than reasonable, I don't think either SurgeX or ZeroSurge are "overpriced". They DO work, they have a long lifespan, they are certified.
I guess Pancreas has not looked at the prices of the "magic" products:

EVEREST 8000 - Shunyata Research

shunyata.com

Oh, and they DON'T work.

 

[JayGilb]

Completely agree, the price is more than reasonable, I don't think either SurgeX or ZeroSurge are "overpriced". They DO work, they have a long lifespan, they are certified.
I guess Pancreas has not looked at the prices of the "magic" products:

EVEREST 8000 - Shunyata Research

shunyata.com

Oh, and they DON'T work.

What they need to do is integrate an i/o port on these devices where one can download data (voltage, duration) on each surge suppressed as well as the time of the surge.
If they can build a pc for a few hundred dollars, then this type of circuity could be designed and installed in a surge protector that is in the $600-1000 range without impacting the cost significantly.

It would be interesting to see how many actual surges impact the average user of these devices.

 

[ReevaluateAdNauseam]

What they need to do is integrate an i/o port on these devices where one can download data (voltage, duration) on each surge suppressed as well as the time of the surge.
If they can build a pc for a few hundred dollars, then this type of circuity could be designed and installed in a surge protector that is in the $600-1000 range without impacting the cost significantly.

It would be interesting to see how many actual surges impact the average user of these devices.

This is the closest I have seen:

https://www.ametekesp.com/esp/envision/envision-120-208v

 

[egellings]

Completely agree, the price is more than reasonable, I don't think either SurgeX or ZeroSurge are "overpriced". They DO work, they have a long lifespan, they are certified.
I guess Pancreas has not looked at the prices of the "magic" products:

EVEREST 8000 - Shunyata Research

shunyata.com

Oh, and they DON'T work.

Ony 10 grand? Get a couple for the kids!

 

[ReevaluateAdNauseam]

A sufficiently close electrical event, lightning or otherwise, can make that "never fail" go away quickly.

So? A direct lightning hit will destroy even equipment that has been unplugged. That is not a reason not to use the best surge protection available. I wish people would stop with the "A direct lightning hit makes all surge protection meaningless" nonsense. Yes, we know. Lets make sure we are protected in less severe circumstances.

 

[ta240]

So? A direct lightning hit will destroy even equipment that has been unplugged. That is not a reason not to use the best surge protection available. I wish people would stop with the "A direct lightning hit makes all surge protection meaningless" nonsense. Yes, we know. Lets make sure we are protected in less severe circumstances.

The 'but it won't stop everything' is such a standard argument against any type of prevention and it is such a weak argument. I hear it with things like theft deterrents and alarms all the time. Combine that with "it is more than I want to spend so it is overpriced!" and those are two annoying battle cries.
Apparently what they make is good enough that the OP really, really wants one so they are onto something with their design.
It is like the person in a restaurant complaining that the ingredients aren't worth what the dish costs. You aren't buying the ingredients, you are buying everything it took to get them, figure out how to transform them into something that people really want and then get them to the people and (gasp) for someone to make a good living off of it. They also have to look at how many they would sell at each price range to decide if they can sell enough more at a lower price to make the same amount of money.
If it were easy to design and build this successfully there would be DIY plans and knock-offs everywhere.

 

[ReevaluateAdNauseam]

The 'but it won't stop everything' is such a standard argument against any type of prevention and it is such a weak argument. I hear it with things like theft deterrents and alarms all the time. Combine that with "it is more than I want to spend so it is overpriced!" and those are two annoying battle cries.
Apparently what they make is good enough that the OP really, really wants one so they are onto something with their design.
It is like the person in a restaurant complaining that the ingredients aren't worth what the dish costs. You aren't buying the ingredients, you are buying everything it took to get them, figure out how to transform them into something that people really want and then get them to the people and (gasp) for someone to make a good living off of it. They also have to look at how many they would sell at each price range to decide if they can sell enough more at a lower price to make the same amount of money.
If it were easy to design and build this successfully there would be DIY plans and knock-offs everywhere.

Couldn't agree more. It is one thing to mock the astronomical prices of the "audiophile" scams, but quite another to attack the few remaining solid companies that are trying to survive without moving their production overseas and actually provide a very essential service. Don't expect people to work for free, it is not ethical.

 

[Pancreas]

I bought one the surgex 10 outlet standalone which is the cream crop of standalones.

Better than zerosurge as zerosurge only has 8 outlet which two of then are on the side and looks awful and inconvenient and also shorter cord than surgex

 

[egellings]

Yes, it's not easy and it's very expensive. Without highly qualified engineers and proper testing equipment, it's not possible. If you have the necessary qualifications and skills, would you want to be paid peanuts?? I highly doubt so. Highly specialised equipment needed for testing are very expensive as well.

Normally, getting UL or CE approvals means sending several copies of the piece of equipment to UL, CE certified testing labs that do safety testing, some of it to equipment destruction. If your piece is expensive, it gets costly very fast and then there is the cost of hiring the service. I worked for a company that made relatively low-cost electrical safety devices and had some sent out for some of that required testing.

 

[Pancreas]

Only downside of surgeX is the plug is not flat. Thats where zerosurge has it beat.

Surgex is nicer looking.

I don’t know why zerosurge makes an 8 outlet standalone and puts 2 of those outlets on the side, making a setup more inconvenient.

All the outlets should be facing up like surgeX