Does Sup Forums unplug their computer during a storm? My power just flickered on and off and it always scares me

Does Sup Forums unplug their computer during a storm? My power just flickered on and off and it always scares me.

No, I have several enterprise grade UPSs.

Aren't the losses exponential if you chain them? That is, if they're not connected via data cables, I guess

I have a surge protector with a fuse so I should be alright, right?

Chain them? What are you talking about. There's a house wide filter on the mains and each electrical device shares a UPS at the plug.
You think I have one computer and several UPSs chained behind it?

ne

I use a UPS, so just a windstorm or rainstorm with wind don't scare me at all.
Now when it's a thunderstorm with lightning, everything gets unplugged, including PC, PSU, and ethernet. sadly the coaxial cable isn't very easy to remove from the modem, but that's something the ISP can replace if it gets fried.

I feel for ppl living in the southeast

No, because this shit deserves to die suffering.

No. Power outages cannot damage your computer. It is not possible. It's simply a break in the line somewhere and there is no way that can possibly cause an over voltage condition.

The only actual threat is lightning and basic power strips have metal oxide varistors designed to handle large transients like that. MOVs can't handle transients forever though and they will break down eventually. My advice would be if your house was directly struck by lightning you should probably replace your power strip or at least test the MOVs. If the power strip fails the PSU will most like be the first device to absorb the power and will also be the first to fail, with any luck protecting the rest of the system. A direct lightning strike will probably just blow apart whatever component is connected closest to the input so a rectifier diodes, a filter capacitor, or the primary winding of the input transformer will probably be first to go. The voltage is high enough for the current to arc right over the blown component to ground. Sure you'll have a dead PSU but the rest of your system should survive if you were using a decent brand well engineered PSU.

Can your fuse brake 5000V?

I do when I could but if I don't I make sure I have a surge protector, preferably a good one.

Years ago we lost a dial up modem to a hit via the phone line.

if you're in a relative new home and have really good power from the power company, maybe. if you're in an older community with crappy infrastructure, you should invest in a UPS

don't just disconnect the power disconnect the phone line/cable too. Had this happen when a tree went through power and phone lines, every thing not networked was fine, anything connected was fucked

Why it didn't arced at power supply, it is way closer... Or there were a modem of sort installed?

Get a good surge protector, at very least. Surge, not power strip. There is a world of difference (assuming you're buying legit UL/CE from a store, and not from csg)

I have never unplugged things for thunderstorms. Why should I?

Power strips are not surge protectors, retard.

>you don't daisy chain your UPSs?
fucking lol.

wow, all that autorouted trash. This board deserved to brun

This is true
I have a home built in the 00s and ive experienced many power outages, lightning strikes near my place, blackout, brownout, etc, and i haven't had anything get fried from it

That being said ive had friends who live in older homes and mobile homes get their entire computers, tvs, game consoles, fried from power issues and lightning strikes

A surge protector has MOVs in it that clamp voltage above a certain level. When a spike hits, the excess energy is dumped into the MOVs until the spike is over or the fuse blows. Since a MOV looks like a dead short when you put 10x breakdown voltage on it they can easily burn a fuse. This is a good thing because it lets you know the MOV got hit, and it immediately stops the event by opening the circuit.

A MOV can only usually take a couple of good hits or a few hundred minor over volt events before it becomes useless. They fail open, so they just become totally worthless, and the only way to test them is to take them out of circuit, put a small over volt on it, and see if it conducts within spec. This is a pain in the ass, so really just replace your surge protector every 5 years or after a confirmed large spike.

I've got a UPS connected to my Server. Even though the Power is pretty stable, better safe than sorry. Plus if main power should fail the server will shutdown properly and help prevent data errors/raid rebuilds. My old house, I had my cable box get fried due to lighting strike and it was on a surge strip (first thing plugged into it, rest of devices were unharmed)

I have an enterprise grade surge protector. If it is a really nasty lightning storm though I will unplug shit, especially cable wires going to my cable modem.

I saw somebodies entire house get fried despite having surge protectors because lightning struck the coaxial cable and traveled through the entire house.

No because I have a dual-conversion UPS.

Remember to daisy chain at least 3 of them for maximum protection

99% of the time they are. Not reliable no, but it's not just rails, there's stuff that can fry before your real shit gets fried

No I don't, because I live in California and I actually can't remember the last time I had one close enough to matter.

Popping Caps seem to be an issue with power surges when unprotected.

I always use:
Type 1/2 surge suppressor (MOV based) at the power meter/circuit breaker -> a Zero Surge series mode filter -> inline uninterruptible power supply -> power strips -> gear

In the near future it will be:
Type 1/2 surge suppressor at the power meter/circuit breaker -> PowerWall clone -> a Zero Surge series mode filter -> power strips -> gear

I don't, but then again I have SPs on everything. I do have a story related to that though. When I was a kid, I got to see ball lightning first hand, and it almost killed me. I was playing an SNES, and our TV was hooked up to a large antenna running up the side of the house. Lightning struck the antenna, and traveled down it. It then blew out of the front of TV in the form of ball lightning. It was a slow moving blueish purple ball, and it was traveling slowly enough that I was able to duck out of the way. It continued on to the back wall where it hit and discharged, leaving a massive scorch mark and causing the whole room to stink like eggs for about a week after. I later found out that this was actually a super rare phenomenon. Neat stuff.

Nigga what? I live in CA and I've seen several brownouts in my area as well as one occasion where the line voltage shot up to 130 for a few seconds before going dark.

Yes, I'm sure that $5 Chinese surge protector from eBay is going to totally protect you user, no worries. It probably has an entire MOV in it.

A fuse doesn't break voltages, it breaks currents.

>No. Power outages cannot damage your computer.
well hardware damage isn't likely, but if you're in the midst of a write operation you can get corrupt registry or some other junk that will be a pain to fix. best to have a UPS for uninterrupted operation. at worst if the power goes out, you have time to properly shut down your PC

also, no surge protector, fuse, or circuit breaker is going to protect you from lightning

Was that a transformer blowout?

Better yet:
Use a CoW filesystem.