Saturday, April 26, 2008

Why did my flat screen tv fail?

You just move in to your brand new house. You have your family room set with all the best in sound, tv, pc (or mac), etc. A few months past and you sit down to enjoy a movie and when you click the remote, your tv does not turn on. You check the power, cables, and still it does not turn on. It is burned. What happened? Well, it could be surges. And what are surges? Surges, simply put, are voltage or current events that occur at high frequencies on your AC or DC lines. They can be produce by grid switching from your utility, lightning strikes, motor running (aka, your refrigerator, hot tub, water pump, even your microwave oven), etc. Your sensible electronic equipment can be damage by the repetitive impacts of these surges. So, how do you prevent this from happening? Well first of all you need good grounding system. Most of our homes may have poor grounding, but with the increment of sensible electronic equipment, you will need to hire a good electrician or consultant to check yours. If it needs to be improved they will give you a quote for that. The second thing you need to get is a surge protective device for your main entrance. This will reduce that high voltage or current and drain the rest to your grounding system in the event of a surge. That is why you need a low resistance grounding system.This would be your first stage protection. The second stage protection for your AC, Cable (Coax), Phone line (RJ11) and Internet (RJ45), can be provided by a Quality Surge Strip (High Energy and Low Impedance) for your AC, and separate protection for your Cable (Coax), Phone line (RJ11) and Internet (RJ45). Doing this will prevent the damages from surges to your equipment, and it's like an insurance policy for your electronic equipment.

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