About Surge Protectors and beefy psu's

kezg · Oct 28, 2007, 10:42 AM

Hello all, Today I found my pc had shut down by itself. I found the surge protector board the pc was plugged into has died, this has happed only 2 days after upgrading from a 600watt psu to a 1000watt psu. I see on the power board it says 'Max load- 2500watts/10amp, well the 2500watts should be fine for what i had plugged in, but what about the 10amp? I dont understand electricity much but to me it sounds like the surge protector power board doest have a high enough load rating?
Unfortunately when i plugged the psu directly into the wall socket after the power board died, The 1000watt psu flashed and popped and died on me, also my brand new gigabyte X-38 motherboard is dead now too!
Im wondering if the power board killed the psu, Or maybe if the psu killed the power board because it wasnt a high enough load rating?
I hoping warrenty will replace my new psu and mobo (usless the cpu and ram is dead too).

Does anyone know what kind of spec's of surge protector or UPS I'd need for a 1000Watt psu?
Thanks all

**temeteus82** · Oct 28, 2007, 10:59 AM

what is the voltage where you live? Since 1W = 1V x 1A
So lets say that the voltage in your area is 110V so then the math would look like this 110Wx10A=1100W so that PSU takes good deal out of that protector and if you have other devices pluged in too then the 100W would not cut if there is a power Surge.

kezg · Oct 28, 2007, 01:49 PM

thanks for the reply. I live in Australia where it's 240Volts.

Do you think plugging my 1000Watt psu in the 2500watt/10a surge protector board could have caused the psu, and motherboard to be burnt out? I also had a router and cable modem plugged into the board but they are still working fine.

The surge protector board was plugged into a 2-Socket wall outlet, with a 2nd surge protecter plugged into the other wall socket with a monitor, printer, and 450watt speaker system plugged in, Which are all working fine still also.

system was fine for a week until I upgraded the psu from 600Watts to a Antec1000Watt, then 2days later it all went down, I feel it was the psu killed everything for some reason(just a feeling though).

cpu and ram could also be fried but it's an intel cpu and DDR2 ram, and I dont have another intel/DDR2 motherboard to test them on. Hopefully there ok, more likely the motherboard died then the cpu or ram? what do u think?

Anyhow, Im trying contacting the store to see if they'll take it all back for testing etc and hopefully fix/replace them. I just hope they dont say it's all my fault, So much money to loose

**temeteus82** · Oct 28, 2007, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kezg

The surge protector board was plugged into a 2-Socket wall outlet,

From Wikipedia:

Quote:

A surge protector is an appliance designed to protect electrical devices from voltage spikes. Surge protectors attempt to regulate the voltage supplied to an electric device by either blocking or shorting to ground voltage above a safe threshold.

Sine you have it on 2-Socket wall outlet it might not be grounded and that would render the protector useless.

Here's some good links for you to read:

Surge protector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Domestic AC power plugs and sockets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

H3X4D3C1M4L · Nov 4, 2007, 02:25 AM

I don't think that was it. You don't really have enough hardware to exceed that kind of wattage.

Oct 28, 2007, 10:42 AM	#1
kezg DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	About Surge Protectors and beefy psu's Hello all, Today I found my pc had shut down by itself. I found the surge protector board the pc was plugged into has died, this has happed only 2 days after upgrading from a 600watt psu to a 1000watt psu. I see on the power board it says 'Max load- 2500watts/10amp, well the 2500watts should be fine for what i had plugged in, but what about the 10amp? I dont understand electricity much but to me it sounds like the surge protector power board doest have a high enough load rating? Unfortunately when i plugged the psu directly into the wall socket after the power board died, The 1000watt psu flashed and popped and died on me, also my brand new gigabyte X-38 motherboard is dead now too! Im wondering if the power board killed the psu, Or maybe if the psu killed the power board because it wasnt a high enough load rating? I hoping warrenty will replace my new psu and mobo (usless the cpu and ram is dead too). Does anyone know what kind of spec's of surge protector or UPS I'd need for a 1000Watt psu? Thanks all

Oct 28, 2007, 01:49 PM	Thread Starter #3
kezg DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	thanks for the reply. I live in Australia where it's 240Volts. Do you think plugging my 1000Watt psu in the 2500watt/10a surge protector board could have caused the psu, and motherboard to be burnt out? I also had a router and cable modem plugged into the board but they are still working fine. The surge protector board was plugged into a 2-Socket wall outlet, with a 2nd surge protecter plugged into the other wall socket with a monitor, printer, and 450watt speaker system plugged in, Which are all working fine still also. system was fine for a week until I upgraded the psu from 600Watts to a Antec1000Watt, then 2days later it all went down, I feel it was the psu killed everything for some reason(just a feeling though). cpu and ram could also be fried but it's an intel cpu and DDR2 ram, and I dont have another intel/DDR2 motherboard to test them on. Hopefully there ok, more likely the motherboard died then the cpu or ram? what do u think? Anyhow, Im trying contacting the store to see if they'll take it all back for testing etc and hopefully fix/replace them. I just hope they dont say it's all my fault, So much money to loose

Nov 4, 2007, 02:25 AM	#5
H3X4D3C1M4L DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 6,794 Rep Power: 0	I don't think that was it. You don't really have enough hardware to exceed that kind of wattage.