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Storm Season

Summertime is fun time. Unfortunately it is also the peak time for thunderstorms, lightning strikes, power surges, brownouts and blackouts-all of which are bad news for your computer. In fact, research shows that half of all computer problems are directly related to power-line problems. The good news is that it is not too difficult (or expensive) to protect your equipment from most power problems.

Power Sags

Power Sags (or brownouts) are the most common power problem. A sag is a decrease in voltage levels that starves your computer of the power it needs, causing it to lockup or crash. The best defense against power sags is a good UPS that will deliver a constant, continuous power supply to your PC.

Blackouts

Blackouts are the complete loss of power usually caused by excessive demand on the power grid, but can also be caused by lightning strikes, downed lines and cut cables. Blackouts cause ugly shutdowns which end up wiping out all of your work in progress, as well as possibly damaging your hard drive's file allocation table. The only protection against blackouts is a good UPS.

Power Spikes

Power Spikes are instantaneous, dramatic increases in voltage levels caused by nearby lightning strikes or major electrical load switches across the power grid. Spikes travel over power lines, phone lines, even cable TV lines and can cause devastating damage to modems, motherboards, and other sensitive circuits. Your best protection against power spikes is a very good surge protector (or remembering to unplug your PC before the storm hits).

Power Surges

Power Surges are similar to power spikes, but they last longer and are usually not as intense. However major surges can deliver the same catastrophic damage to your sensitive equipment, and even minor surges can send your equipment to an early grave. Make sure you have a good surge protectors for all of your sensitive devices.

Electrical Noise

Electrical Noise (EMI and RFI) messes up the "clean" power required by most sensitive devices and can corrupt data files and introduce errors in executing programs. Your best protection is a good UPS with built in noise conditioning.

Choosing the Right Power Protection for Your System

Every one of your valuable electronic devices should be protected with a good surge protector. Many surge protectors are available with power, phone and cable connections, as well as indicator lights that let you know that they are functioning correctly.

Critical pieces of equipment should be protected with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which offers surge protection, electrical noise conditioning and battery backup. Not sure which UPS to buy? Use these guidelines:

1. Figure out the volt-amps capacity you need. If your equipment is rated in amps, multiply the number of amps your equipment uses by 120. If your equipment is rated in watts, multiply the number by 1.67. For example if your monitor uses 3 amps and your computer uses 100 watts, you would need 360 (3 x 120) amps plus 167 (100 x 1.67) watts for a total of 567 (360 + 167) volt-amps.

2. Second, make sure it has a joule rating of at least 400. That will protect you from most power surges.

Don't take a chance with your valuable equipment and data this summer. A little protection can help you survive the storm-even if you're left sitting in the dark.

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