Should consoles be plugged into surge protectors?

[Rik]

I live in an area that has those annoying..well you know when you're working on the pc and the electrical power blinks on and comes on a second later,or little spikes of power?At times this happens 2-3 times a night,especially during heat waves,when power plants are running full blast.My pc,monitor,printer are plugged into a surge protector,that is i bought one right away for fear of frying my pc.Question is are classic gaming consoles damaged by those little on and off power failures,wouldnt that damage a console?or should a console be plugged into a good surge protectof?

[+remowilliams]

A strip isn't going to do shit in the face of non catastrophic power issues, you need a UPS. Power strips only protect against momentary massive surges, they don't protect against constant smaller spikes/drops, line noise, cycle irregularities, etc. that regularly destroy equipment. Decent UPS units are so cheap there is no reason not to have them these days.

[shadow460]

My Saturn and N64 have survived being plugged into marine electrical systems for almost a year each. They're not as well regulated as land systems, and they have an odd "hot neutral" or "hot white wire" setup with 55 volts to ground on each line instead of 125 to ground on the hot side and (theoretically) zero to ground on the neutral.

 

Beyond that, they are the consoles I've had the longest and they've never been plugged into anything but the wall or a strip. They've lasted since 1997 and they are still running well.

 

To answer your question:

For your situation, an UPS may be warranted for all systems. It will keep your game running during a momentary power dropout. That's the only reason you might want a PlayStation 1 or something on an UPS. Some systems are so common or easy enough to fix that if it ever did get fried, you'd have a repair or replacement with a few days.

Now I'm sure my 7800 has spent most of its life plugged directly into the wall. It's almost 20 years old and it still works great (even though I ripped some traces off the board--wups!).

You may want an older or a rare system plugged into an UPS to protect it if it's going to be difficult or expensive to replace.

 

IMHO, electrical line surges/spikes are way overhyped. In all my years, I've had only one thing, a computer, damaged by what could have been a lightning strike. It was plugged into an UPS during the storm, though.

I'm an electrician myself, and I'm still saying that. Line voltages fluctuate, yes, but typical line voltage is 122 volts around here. It has never exceeded 125 here at any time when I've measured it for one reason or another. Most equipment you have has a maximum input of 125 to 135 volts anyway.

I've seen line voltage as low as 105, and it's far more likely you'll see it low rather than high. A lot of things cause drops like that, and most of them are in the home; when the air conditioner kicks on, the fridge kicks on, you start the microwave, etc, a voltage drop can occur.

 

So yes, use an UPS when you don't want to lose 2 hours of play time to a voltage drop. Yes, use it if you want peace of mind. but do you really need one? Probably not.

Edited September 8, 2007 by shadow460

[Lord Thag]

One benefit of having all of your old systems hooked up to surge protectors or strips or whatever is that you can turn the power off to all of the power adaptors. This drastically reduces the wear on the power adaptors over the years.

[+remowilliams]

One benefit of having all of your old systems hooked up to surge protectors or strips or whatever is that you can turn the power off to all of the power adaptors. This drastically reduces the wear on the power adaptors over the years.

Definitely, saves wasted energy and wear on all the power bricks. Which is why I have power strips plugged into UPS'es.

[Video]

I've never bothered with anything other than power strips (which supposedly offer surge protection) But this is more of a convienance thing, to being able to plug a lot of stuff in at once, and turn it all truely off, than it is worry of power spikes.

 

I have my atari from nearly 30 years ago, and it's still going strong, even though most of it's life it has not been plugged into even a power bar, useually, directly into the wall.

 

It was only 95, or so, when I finely started useing power strips cause I got more than just the TV and Atari hooked upl.

[godslabrat]

I have several of my game room electronics plugged into UPSes. Mostly the roter, cable modem, DVR and cable box, because I don't want them powering off at any time. APC has a really nice 29.99 UPS which I can't reccomened at all for computer use, but is great for TV/console/stereo setups.

 

Do you need one? Absolutely not. I use it for convenience sake, and you might enjoy it since you won't have your game crash due to a power dropout. However, realistically, I'd say you and I are the exception, not the rule.

[SRGilbert]

I also reccomend UPS's for computer systems/home theater systems. My power in the summer also sucks. My ups's will usually click or beep when the power drops mementarily, and this seems to happen almost nightly.

[Brian R.]

My suggestion is to unplug them when not in use, whether they're plugged into a strip or not. I had a DC hooked up to a live power strip that was always on, and after many years of use, it developed the spontaneous resetting problem which I suspect may be related to having been plugged in all the time.

Edited September 10, 2007 by Brian R.