BlueMoon Solutions
"for all your home and business computer needs" Surge Protection
Surge Protection
Firstly a quick reminder that we have changed our office phone number. We had a number of customers tell us that they could not get through to our old “700” number so we have changed it to the number that you see at the bottom of this page – 902 906 200.
We have also updated our website – it’s not quite finished yet but its worth a look www.bluemoonsolutions.es – when I get some spare time I promise to finish it off!
Well, it’s been a rainy ol’ time this past few weeks and as a consequence a number of you have been unfortunate enough to have been affected by the storms. One customer even had the misfortune to experience what happens to your computer equipment when lightning gets a little too close! It’s probably worth pointing out that it’s a really good idea, for any electrical item, to have a surge protector placed between your expensive computer equipment and the mains socket.
Surge protectors, which look like 4 or 6 way extension sockets, can be bought usually for less than 30€ and automatically cut the power in the event of power surge strong enough to damage the electrical items that they are protecting. The more expensive ones also have built in protection for your phone cable, giving you to option to route your router through the protection as well – this could have helped protect a customer that had a little too much voltage pass through their router thanks to a lightning strike that happened outside their house.
Ok, I hear you say, so we can use a surge protector to stop excess power from damaging our computer equipment, but doesn’t it also damage my computer if it gets turned off when I am doing something? The answer is yes, if you have a PC (laptops have the advantage of having a battery inside them and are therefore protected from sudden power loss) and the power is suddenly turned off, perhaps due to a power cut (or an over-enthusiastic cleaner), then any information that is being accessed at the time of the power failure could become corrupted or, in the worst case, it could damage your hard drive – the thing inside your computer that stores all of your information (photo’s, music, documents etc). Thankfully there is a solution, a UPS (Uninturruptable Power Supply) or as its called in Spain SAI (Sistema de Alimentación Ininterrumpida) – rolls off the tongue doesn’t it!
Anyway, a SAI is basically a battery that sits between your computer equipment and the power socket. It provides surge protection in the same way as a surge protector does, but it also provides temporary power when the electricity goes off.
SAI’s come in all shapes and sizes and start at around 100 euros, the more money you pay, the longer battery protection you will receive. We have one in our office that will keep the whole room running for around 4 hours, but it wasn’t cheap! Most consumer-bought SAI’s will keep your computer running for between 15 – 30 minutes which is usually plenty of time to finish off what you are doing and power off your computer.
That’s about all for this month. If you have any questions about any of the items that we feature here every month then please don’t hesitate to contact us either by email or through the “contact us” link on our website.
