If you own any kind of hi-def television you would be wise to purchase a surge protector to safeguard it from destructive surges. HDTV models include RPTVs (rear projection televisions), LCD and plasma TVs and also DLP (digital light processing) sets. One reason of course is to protect these appliances from power surges but another reason is to filter out damaging over-frequencies that can degrade picture quality. And with the high cost to purchase one of these units a surge protector for HDTV will save you from have to replace your unit.
There are two ways you can go about this, but for the caution conscious person both ways are preferred. The first way is to install a whole house surge protector. This device can protect your entire house at the point where electricity enters your home: the breaker box. It grounds 10 feet from the box as recommended for most installations and redirects transient surges away from the house. You can connect all incoming lines through this, including satellite TV, cable, telephone lines and data lines from CAT5e cables. The best whole house surge protector HDTV setup is the Square D made by Schneider Electronics. Look at the Square D House Surge Arrester for more details.
The second form of protection comes in point-of-use devices. These are surge protectors that plug into the outlet where your HDTV is located. For those of you concerned if you are setting your connections up correctly and you don’t know how to connect a HDTV surge protector properly, you plug your set into the surge protection device (SPD) and plug the SPD into the outlet.
The recommended surge protection for a HDTV is standard. To start, you want a protector with enough outlets to let you plug in all peripherals. You won’t get much use out of a single wall outlet surge protector for HDTVs. For specifics, try at least 125 VAC, 15 amps and a large maximum surge voltage. This shouldn’t be any lower than 3000 volts. The max spike current should be at least 4500 amps. When it comes to how much Joules surge protection is needed for your HDTV, over 1000 Joules is recommended. Joules tells you how many surges the device can take before the MOVs melt. MOVs are what allow the surge protector to work. Once the MOVs no longer function you will have to replace the surge protector, but as these aren’t very expensive you will find it better than having to replace your HDTV.
With a point-of-use device you can try the PowerSquid Surge3000 Calamari Edition. It’s PowerSquid’s flagship unit and serves all your connection needs for an HDTV setup. Unlike your typical device this one has tentacles that make it easier to connect all the cords and cables from your home theater system. With 3240 Joules of protection it’s by far the best surge protector for HDTV.
