surge protector question

[Tom_ZeCat]

I'm helping a woman who just bought a new Lenovo laptop. I've gotten her all squared away with antivirus software, OpenOffice, and with a wireless connection to her DSL via a router.

I've been strongly urging her to get a surge protector as soon as possible. She's paid probably somewhere between $700 and $900 for a nice computer. I told her a surge protector is pretty much mandatory these days and that it's worth the small sum of money to protect equipment she's paid a lot of money for.

Here's my concern. Even if she gets a surge protector, she lives in a really old house whose electric outlets only have two slots. They're missing the third one, the ground. Isn't the ground essential for a surge protector to run properly?

Right now she's plugging in the laptop by using a little adaptor that adapts her laptop's 3-pronged end into the two-pronged outlet. That makes me nervous! Is she any better off if she uses a surge protector, but has to plug it into a two-pronged outlet via that adapter? Or is she running a big risk even with a surge protector?

I told her to buy a surge protector rated up to at least approximately 2300 joules as soon as she possibly can. For now I've told her if she insists on using the computer that she should power down and unplug it when not in use. At least she can't sustain damage from a spike if the computer's not plugged in.

I was under the impression that surge protectors need that ground to be effective. Am I correct? If the ground is necessary, but her house doesn't have one, is there some other way to get a ground? Or is she running a risk if she doesn't get the electric company out to install a ground and 3-pronged outlets?

I appreciate any help offered.

[partyman97_3]

You are correct Tom. Inside the surge protectors there are several movs that are wired between the hot wire and the ground connection. They are built in such a way that when, the voltage reaches a certain level, they shunt the overvoltage to ground, so without a good ground the surge protector will not function properly. You might suggest a ups. I think if you do a little shopping around you may be able to find a good ups that will provide a certain level if surge protection without a ground. As I am sure you are aware of, in many older homes it can be difficult to get a ground into an existing outlet. Oh and one more thing, if you have any more questions, don't be afraid to ask, but there are several websites out that that go into great deal of detail about surge protectors. Good luck with your friend, and don't lose to much sleep if you doesn't want to follow your advice. All you can do is explain things to her and hope she follows through. Later

[The Wise Monkey]

You don't really need a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) for a laptop - they are more for desktop PCs and servers.