Computers, Storms & Electricity

By Peter Daley

Power surges and voltage spikes come through the telephone line, and mains power during storm activity! (That’s why phone companies have warnings in their literature not to use the phone during storms.)

So,
1. If you are going out during the day.
2. Hear a storm coming.
3. Going to bed at night.

You should turn your computer off normally, then unplug the mains power and disconnect the telephone lead from the modem. If you have a TV aerial connected to your computer you should also disconnect it.

( Make sure the power socket is turned off before re-plugging the mains lead back in, when you want to use your computer again.)

There are specialized spike suppressors you can buy for filtering the mains power and telephone line during normal computer use. Don’t rely on spike suppressors during storm activity, they won’t do much,  but they can protect your computer from  damage from electrical interference, or by electric motors and faulty electrical equipment. It is important for every computer owner, if they wish to protect their computer from this source of damage, to buy and install a surge/spike suppressor power pack.

You can purchase these devices from your local computer, electrical or hardware store. There are also specialised surge suppressor devices that can be installed in your power meter box to protect the whole house, but even if you have one of these devices installed, you still should have a surge suppressor attached to the wall socket or power board, that connects directly to your computer equipment. This is to protect the computer from in house sources. You can purchase this sort of device from $10 to $150,  obviously the higher the price, the greater the type of protection you will get!

Brown-outs are lower than normal line voltages, causing power starvation to the electrical device. In other words, your computer doesn’t get enough power, and this can damage it. Brown-outs are generally transitory, but can last from a few seconds to minutes. You can buy specialized power supplies that monitor the line voltage fluctuations, and when the power goes off, or has a serious fluctuation, the power supply kicks in and supplies power to the computer via a  battery backup system. These are called UPS or Uninterrupted power supplies. This sort of device is more expensive, and is generally used by larger businesses,  corporations and government departments, to protect their important computers, and computer systems from damage.

© Peter Daley 2009