[olug] One Point Twenty-One Jigawatts

Tue May 13 16:36:18 UTC 2003

Maybe this could be a OLUG meeting subject?  I don't mind discussing it at 
the next meeting...(did I just volunteer?)

One thing to remember about Surge Supression is that the supressor you 
buy is only as good as the power runs in your house.  A prerequisite 
for a Surge Supresser is a properly gounded three-prong outlet.  For about 
$5 to $7 bucks, you can pick up an outlet tester at Menards.  This is a  
standard item in my toolkit.  Very useful for Lan Parties.

Plug it into the outlet you plan to put your UPS/Supressor on - there is 
usually three lights on the end, with instructions on how to read the 
lights printed on the side.  If the outlet tests anything beyond normal,  
don't use it, you may be sorry (most likely No Ground, or Hot Neutral).
Also, Two-prong outlets are not considered safe.  These are non-grounded  
plugs, don't trust an adapter.  Also, if you have a house with a mix of  
two-prong and three-prong, chances are the three-prong outlets were 
installed to avoid the use of a three-prong to two-prong adapter.  Best 
bet, always test your outlets.

Putting Surge Supression on an AC power line is only part of the picture.  
Telephone, Cat-5, and RG-6 (coax cable) all need protection, as any one of 
them plugs directly into your PC.  These are often overlooked items. The 
APC BackUPS Office has Phone/Cat5 protection.  Having Surge Supression on 
your cable/satellite coax lines is essential if you have a Home theatre 
system, which often has more investment values than some PC setups.

I do not remember if the Whole-House surge supression covers Telephone, 
CAT5, Coax runs.  Spending a little money in these areas will save you 
later.  Does anyone have whole-house suppression from OPPD?  What fee do 
you pay per month for the service?  Installation?

A good habit to get into is to check your surge supressors after each 
electrical storm.  You never know if any of them have been hit.  Check the 
LED status.  A medium to high-end supressors, you will usually have a 
"Protection" status LED - if this is not on, replace the supressor, as it 
has done it's duty.  

Surge Supressors with higher Joules ratings are always better.

Underground wiring will help with some surge situations.  I moved last 
December to a subdivision that has underground wiring - 
we lost power around 4 AM on Sunday May 4th.  I saw 
the light from a few OPPD trucks inspecting the above-ground lines in my 
area (120th and Military) - power was back on about 30 minutes later.
I know it was May 4th because I had to re-program my VCR to record the 
F1 race at 6:30 AM.

I have several APC UPS units at home.  My main unit, APC SmartUPS 900, is 
a bit older, but still works great.  I followed the directions from the NUT 
site to build my own APC cable using a couple DB-9 plugs and a Cat-5 
cable.  Using PowerChute, I can have my PC shut down automatically after a 
given amount of time.  I have a small APC BackUPS 300 for my cable modem 
and router.  The smaller current draw allows the 300 to stay up longer.  

NUT is the Network UPS Tools.  I believe you can have one host monitor the 
UPS through the signal cable, and notify other hosts on the same UPS to  
shut down.  Very handy for multi-host environments on one UPS.

Check it out:
http://www.exploits.org/nut/

If you want the extreme in surge supression, check out PolyPhaser corp.
http://www.polyphaser.com

Check out their Engineering Notes area (LAN, Phone, equipment rack, 
roof-top grounding):
http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_pen_home.asp

Jon L.

On Tue, 13 May 2003, Joe Catanzaro wrote:

> Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 09:39:13 -0500
> From: Joe Catanzaro <joecatanzaro at cox.net>
> Reply-To: Omaha Linux User Group <olug at olug.org>
> To: olug at olug.org
> Subject: [olug] One Point Twenty-One Jigawatts
> 
> I didn't grow up in a place that has lots of lightning like the Mid-west, 
> so I have several questions regarding best practices for lightning and 
> computers. Just like many of you, I have about 6 computers running 24/7 and 
> would like to prevent the loss of data and fried hardware as much as 
> possible. And bear with me here, I'm not very smart when it comes to 
> lightning strikes.
> 
> When a storm rolls in, do you turn off the computer? Rely on a cheap surge 
> protector? Rely on an expensive surge protector? Unplug everything?
> 
> How does the lightning get to my computer? Does it strike the power pole in 
> the back ally and then travel through the circuits in my house? Or does it 
> hit my house directly?
> 
> Are lightning strikes common and is it worth getting that OPPD "whole house 
> surge protection?"
> 
> I grew up in Hawaii and the last thing we were concerned with was a bolt of 
> lightning.
> 
> 
> 
> Joe Catanzaro
> joecatanzaro at cox.net
> 
> _______________________________________________
> OLUG mailing list
> OLUG at olug.org
> http://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
> 

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