[gui-talk] serge protectors

Wed May 14 16:41:28 CDT 2008

I just have to tell this story, it was hysterical at the time it happened 10
years ago.  I work at a hospital and they have a nice large server room and
very huge uninterrupted power supplies.  One day they got a package from UPS
and the guy from UPS saw the UPS button, nice, big and red and thought it
was his personal way out of the computer room and so he pushed it.
Everything computerized at the hospital came to a grinding halt, and of
course there was a lot of hoopla about it afterwards.  Imagine the guy
thinking he had his own button to push to get out of the room!  

Rose Combs
rosecombs at qwest.net 
-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces+rosecombs=qwest.net at nfbnet.org
[mailto:gui-talk-bounces+rosecombs=qwest.net at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Loy
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 10:04 AM
To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] serge protectors

UPS means  Uninterruptible Power Supply.It is like a surge protector power
strip with a battery backup, if your power goes off it keeps the computer
running for a few minutes until you can save your work and power off the
computer without loosing any of your work. They can be bought at any
electronic or computer store.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel Deutsch" <jdeutsch at dslextreme.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 12:39 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] serge protectors

I never heard of such a problem, and don't think it's ever happened to me. 
Nevertheless, I'm interested to know what a UPS is. Certainly not a guy who 
comes in a brown truck to check your computer's power. :-)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Loy" <loyrg2845 at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 5:19 AM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] serge protectors

I would suggest that everyone should use a UPS on there computer equipment 
rather than just a surge protector. This combines a surge protector and 
battery backup. I have had instances of low power  where the UPS kicks in 
and prevents the computer from shutting down. I had a problem with a copier 
that caused low power when it was in use and the computer would shut down 
because it did not get enough power. After connecting a UPS this was no 
longer a problem, because the battery kicked in when this happened. I don't 
know if low power could damage a computer like a surge , but I suspect it 
could.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joel Deutsch" <jdeutsch at dslextreme.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 10:17 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] serge protectors

Dave,

Yes, you're right. In fact, I've never known that minor, perhaps
unnoticeable, electrical events can wear away the protective capability of a
surge protector. I wouldn't  mind knowing what sorts of events those might
be, and how you could be alert to recognize them when they occur. . I think
like most people, I only understand "surge" to be something like what you're
referring to as catastrophic, or at least dramatically noticeable. Like
there is a power outage in the whole neighborhood, and your computer dies
along with whatever other appliances and lights are turned on. Then the
power problem is fixed by the power company, and the first jolt of renewed
electricity is much stronger than the normal constant output, and fries your
computer and stereo amplifier unless you've either unplugged them or they're
plugged into a surge protector. In which case the surge protector circuitry
gets fried and you have to buy a new surge protector.

That is all I thought this was about. I know nothing about there being
periodic surges of electricity no one would notice that nonetheless eat away
incrementally at a surge protector's functionality.

So shoot me, Dave. What can I say. I never heard about the slow death sort
of surges.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 7:04 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] serge protectors

Joel:  Be careful about lecturing Lloyd (smile) he is an electrical
engineer.

I think he was talking about small surges that cumulatively take away
the surge protection, while it seems like you are talking about a
catastrophic strike.

Dave

At 01:37 PM 5/13/2008, you wrote:
>Lloyd,
>I don't think that's what they were talking about. Everybody knows that if
>a
>surge protector is forced to break the current during a power surge, then
>it
>loses its capacity to protect and needs to be replaced, even though of
>course it still can provide electricity to what's plugged into it. and just
>because you can't see the pilot light, that wouldn't matter if you knew
>you'd had a dramatic power surge, like a lightning strike. If that were to
>happen, or the house current would go off and suddenly come back on, or
>that
>sort of thing, I'd certainly get a friend or neighbor to take a look at my
>power strip and, if the light was out, install a fresh replacement.
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Lloyd Rasmussen" <lras at loc.gov>
>To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 11:26 AM
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] serge protectors
>
>
>As far as I know, surge protectors can fail in a way that you cannot detect
>without sight.  Failure can occur if there was a nearby lightning strike or
>other sudden spike of voltage on your AC outlets.  The metal-oxide varistor
>or other device inside the unit is supposed to short much of that charge
>out, so your computer is not exposed to it.  But it can only do this a
>limited number of times.  An L E D on the power strip may change color or
>go out to indicate that the surge protection function is no longer
>working.  But the strip will still supply unprotected power.
>
>This is not a matter of aging, but only a matter of exposure to large
>electrical surges.
>
>Having said all this, I have never had one of my surge protectors inspected
>to see whether it has sustained damage or not.
>
>At 02:07 PM 5/13/2008, you wrote:
> >Denise --
> >
> >If Best Buy, and every other retailer for that matter, could convince us
> >of
> >it, they would have us replace everything we own as frequently as
> >possible,
> >just to keep their bottom lines as profitable as possible.
> >
> >As for the surge protector going bad, yet still providing output power,
> >that
> >comes as quite a shock to me.
> >
> >It sounds to me like the technicians there simply don't know what caused
> >the
> >problem in the first place, so they're coming up with a bogus excuse to
> >explain away their ineptness.  And if your computer is still under
> >warranty,
> >then you'd better believe that they're trying to find some way of blaming
> >you and your equipment for being at fault, so they can charge you some
> >real
> >bucks to repair or replace your computer.
> >
> >-- George
> >
> >
> >Denise avant recently said ...
> >
> >"i recently had to take in my computer TO BEST BUY FOR REPAIR. I WAS told
> >that some hardware inside of the computer may be causing my problem. and
> >the
> >damage to the hardware in the computer may have been caused by my serve
> >protector going bad. i explained that i had the protector for about 5 or
> >6
> >years, and i was then advised that a replacement every two years was
> >adviseable. so thus my question.
>
>Lloyd Rasmussen, Acting Head, Engineering Section
>National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
>Library of Congress    (202) 707-0535   <http://www.loc.gov/nls>
>HOME:  <http://lras.home.sprynet.com>
>The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent
>those of NLS.
>
>_______________________________________________
>gui-talk mailing list
>gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>gui-talk:
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk/jdeutsch%40dslextreme.com
>
>_______________________________________________
>gui-talk mailing list
>gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>for gui-talk:
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk/dandrews%40visi.com

_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
gui-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk/jdeutsch%40dslextreme.com

_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
gui-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk/loyrg2845%40gmail.com
_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
gui-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk/jdeutsch%40dslextreme.com 

_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
gui-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk/loyrg2845%40gmail.com
_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
gui-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk/rosecombs%40qwest.net