Cali Kid Corals

Power surge?

PeetaJai

PeetaJai

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Hi all
I recently had few random mini power outage in San Francisco, my reef tank would lose power and surge back on after 10 sec. One time actually fried my heater and Inkbird. What does everyone use to protect their expansive equipments. I just switched my outlet to GFCI. Should I also use some kind of surge protector for redundancy? I would love to hear ideas and suggestions. TIA
 
I have been using these for many years without issue. I don't know if the included 15amp breaker inside has prevented anything or nothing has needed to be prevented? to be completely honest, I don't know much about electricity. Pretty low tech which I appreciate for my style & setup.

I am interested to hear what others have to say.
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I don’t think GFCI will protect your equipment from power surges, that is mostly to protect you from short circuits of high voltage from killing you in my limited understanding.

I think the Apex power bars function as surge protectors. Some other smart outlets do too, but obviously that should be verified for the specific model. If you aren’t using those, then yes I’d plug things into a surge protector just like you would for any sensitive electronics.
 
There are a ton of Surge Protector look-a-likes these days. Make sure that the packaging specifically says Surge Protection. I bought what I thought was a Surge Protector at one point last year and it turned out to be just a multi-receptical extension chord.

I have all pumps and heaters running on a Kasa (smart control & surge protector) at this point so I can swing it over to a Goal-Zero battery backup if there is a power outage. Lights, ATO, and dosers are connected to a surge protector, but don't go to the battery backup.

I'd be curious though if anyone has had problems with fast power outages (flickers) or brown-outs affecting their equipment? Electronics don't like brown-outs...they can get caught in weird states....not fried or broken...but they can appear to be OK at a rough glance but not actually fully functional without a full 1-10 second power cycle. Anyone have this happen?
 
none of the above mentioned will protect you from brownouts/blackouts/etc. You want an inline battery back-up, or at least a battery back-up.

Actual surges are rare around here, but brownouts/flickers/etc aren't and they'll devastate your electronics.
 
BAYMAC said:
none of the above mentioned will protect you from brownouts/blackouts/etc. You want an inline battery back-up, or at least a battery back-up.

Actual surges are rare around here, but brownouts/flickers/etc aren't and they'll devastate your electronics. I've lost thousands to flickerrs & brownouts.
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Prestondeeply said:
There are a ton of Surge Protector look-a-likes these days. Make sure that the packaging specifically says Surge Protection. I bought what I thought was a Surge Protector at one point last year and it turned out to be just a multi-receptical extension chord.

I have all pumps and heaters running on a Kasa (smart control & surge protector) at this point so I can swing it over to a Goal-Zero battery backup if there is a power outage. Lights, ATO, and dosers are connected to a surge protector, but don't go to the battery backup.

I'd be curious though if anyone has had problems with fast power outages (flickers) or brown-outs affecting their equipment? Electronics don't like brown-outs...they can get caught in weird states....not fried or broken...but they can appear to be OK at a rough glance but not actually fully functional without a full 1-10 second power cycle. Anyone have this happen?
Click to expand...
I keep all my gaming/tv/home theater stuff on a power conditioner, which at the end of the day is really just a surge protector with extra steps. With all the power issues we have here in the bay, I'd really recommend at minimum a surge protector for your tank.

As @JVU mentioned a GFCI is great to have to keep from getting electrocuted if there's a problem.

But at the end of the day a UPS battery backup for one of your pumps is a great idea.
 
Thank you all for the wonderful feedback. I think I’ll get a good surge protector for now. Haven’t decided what to go with for the backup battery.
 
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