Weird surge protector failure

[Lex]

Last night was watching a movie, and all at once "Pop", my DVD player was off. Upon further examination, TiVo was off, as well as Satellite receiver. Looked a little further, and my Panamax Max1000 was completely out, no lights at all. So, I tried to get my DVD player back on, freaking out that it was blown. Finally, I plugged into another socket no another Panamax DBS satellite surge protector, and whala, DVD action. So, I finished my movie and went to bed. Today, I traced the Max1000 power cable, and it was in fact plugged into the DBS protector. I know, double surge, not a great idea, but... You do what you have to do when you have amps that require separate plugs and you only have 4.

I plugged the Max1000 in a foyier connection. (it has a long cable), and whala, The Max1000 is back in business. So, it appears I lost a few connections on my floor surge protector. But the DVD player is plugged into part of it and working. Very strange, to blow out part of it.

All I can figure is, the plugs are maybe individually fused and it overloaded. Why now after working like this for months? Makes no sense. Anyway, thought I'd share my plight with the masses.

Lex

[David Meek]

Weird surge protector failure

Well, that's what you get for having a weird surge protector. :B

Seriously though thanks for the info, oh Lex one. I'm glad no components were damaged!




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[John Holmes]

Glad to hear the gear is okay. And guess one way of looking at it is, if anything was to fail, it was the right piece to go out! 8)




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Lex]

David, it was the problem that was weird, not the protector! LOL.

John, you do bring up a good point. A 95.00 surge is of course, the cheapest thing in my rack!

Lex

[Sonnie Parker]

Glad it all worked out for ya Lex... I just posted praise for Panamax over in A/V Chalet. My 1000+ bit the dust but they replaced it with a 5100 for only $99.50. I could have gotten the 4300 for free but chose the 5100. If yours ever does go out then you know you have a company that stands behind their products.






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[Lex]

Yeah, Panamax is a good company. I once called them about a certified extension cord for my max1000+ and they sent me 3 brand new ones free!

In fact, this piece is a Max piece, I think it was called a MaxDBS satellite surge. Maybe I will just give them a ring about it.

Lex

[ThomasW]

Most of these devices use sacrificial MOV's. After taking one too many surges they're toast. One can buy new MOV's and solder them in, they're very inexpensive.

The real solution is to have a whole house surge unit installed, they can either go in the electrical panel or beside it. ~$250+. Then forget about the little strip surge things. The really nice thing is that whole house units EVERYTHING is protected.

One caveat is that X-10 units won't work where whole house surge protection is istalled.

Although not as bad as Florida, Colo is one of the highest lightning strike areas on the planet (probably has something to do with being a mile closer to the clouds). So better safe than sorry is my motto ........




theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

[Sonnie Parker]

I have one of those whole house protectors installed on my meter. It is supplied by our power company for $4 per month but only covers $1000 per item for white appliances only. Still it could possibly prevent problems.

I'm not so sure if my 1000+ was surged or not although the "Overvoltage" light was permanently lit. It could have been that it was a malfunction from being fairly old. Plus we only noticed that there were several brown outs/drop outs and no storms before it happen. The constant brown out problem could have finally taken it's toll on the unit.






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[David Meek]

White appliances? :?:




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker