Line condition/Surge Protection

**Ht4me** · **07-30-06, 12:09 AM**

If you Don't already have it...Get It SOON!!!

A little story,

We had a few storms roll thru and I had a small surge protector only for all ht components; receiver, dvd, New HDTV DLP, cable DVR box, etc. Wife was concerned we had before lost my computer from a storm that still managed to get thru a surge procector. She suggested & I did unplug the dlp and was going to do the other stuff too right after I did the pc. TOO LATE!! light bulbs were actually barely glowing...???
very scarry surges & power drops & finally just out.( 6+ hours)
She saw the Surge proctector blow its caps with a very large noise & flash...while I was down the hall to undo the computer completely from the surge.Oh, what a nice smell...cooking electrical components. I was very fortunate to loose only the surge protector!!! It gave its life so others could live.
I wrote the mfg a letter by email, and was very surprised that they responded very quickly, concerned about my loss & potential equipment loss. They gave me my choice of A) replacement of like product... or B) upgrade to my choice of anything at 50% of retail.
WOW... quick, exact, no hassle, fast delivery of new items GREAT!

Please never trust your love of your ht equipment to low grade protection. What's it worth to loose just one piece? I dont know if I can say who did this for me,
SHACK GODS
please let me know if I can or not.... I will privately if need be to brag on a company who really does do what their packaging/ promo info says! #1 protect your valuables and really replace the lost product.

Has anyone else had a good or bad experience with theirs?

Mike

**Otto** · **07-30-06, 08:22 AM**

Hi Mike,

Well, I'm not a shack god, but I wouldn't hesitate to post the manufacturer and model, especially when something good happens! I'm interested...

**Praetorian** · **07-30-06, 07:05 PM**

I am all about surge protection, but all the hooey about "conditioning" gets me riled up. Anyway, most the time they are part of the same package, so I ignore the fluff of the "clean power" crap to get the good protectors. I am pleased that this one did its job for you.

**lcaillo** · **07-30-06, 08:42 PM**

Quote:

Ht4me wrote:

Please never trust your love of your ht equipment to low grade protection. What's it worth to loose just one piece? I dont know if I can say who did this for me,
SHACK GODS
please let me know if I can or not.... I will privately if need be to brag on a company who really does do what their packaging/ promo info says! #1 protect your valuables and really replace the lost product.
Has anyone else had a good or bad experience with theirs?
Mike

Don't hesitate to post the manufacturer and your experience. Just state the facts and all the info about how you contacted them, etc, that might be useful to someone else. As long as you keep it clear what are the actual facts and what is your opinion, no problem naming names.

Your experience is not unique. Godd surge suppression can be a big benefit. It is no gaurantee that you wil not get damage but it is cheap insurance. Just be sure to go check all of your connections, partiularly the grounds. A good surge can cook a weak ground and your protection may be compromised.

Ditto those comments on power conditioning. In most cases it is not a benefit. Some specific applications may benefit, but in general the value for most people is marginal at best.

**Ht4me** · **07-30-06, 09:25 PM**

Well I first thought it was hooey about conditioning too, but after that little incident we had wierd things going on. Bulbs didnt last, the stupid clock for the microwave was always blinking 00:00, that alone will drive you nuts.
We placed several calls to the power/ electric company about the goings on, and after a few days we had 3 large bucket trucks show up at the house with all kind of maps, charts etc. trying to explain how all the so- called problems we Not there, but to be sure they attached a recorder device to the house power input to "view it anyway".
In a seven day time frame we lost power 12 or 13 times for a very short time, power was all over the place for voltages...one guy said he had never seen such as this.

Then they really went to work and in a few days they discovered a grid feed that was cross wired (a to a and b to b, etc., wasn't correctly done) so every time they had checked it before it always looked fine... The grid service was over a mile away that fed the last 8 houses on our side of the block. Since then, Bulbs WILL last more than a few weeks,light dont glow as if you had a dimmer??? Wierd. But best news all is calm on the power to the ht setup.I replaced the circuit breaker for the ht line and the 20a outlet too, just to be sure.

If you ever have a breaker blow more than 2 times... replace it. It will always be weak from then on.

The power guys were impressed on how there was no more low noise on their side of the lines, Trash, and I was too.

The Greatest people to work with in my opinion are the Panamax crew....

Traded up from a $50 surge box to the 5100 EX "AND" the subwoofer single outlet plug-in at 1/2 of retail. My options were to send in the dead one for replacement or
upgrade... Done deal! Highly recommend !! Wonderful experience.

Mike

Is there such a thing as too much equipment?

**Ht4me** · **07-30-06, 09:50 PM**

Icaillo

hi and forgive me.......but

what is a AV System Therapist?

mike

**lcaillo** · **07-30-06, 11:56 PM**

I am a technicain and service manager for a HT dealer. I fix things and solve problems. Sometimes that involves calibration or repair of the equipment, sometimes it requires caliration of the user. They also tell me I could sell manure in a barnyard if I needed too...

**lcaillo** · **07-31-06, 12:05 AM**

BTW, we have been selling Panamax mostly since long before I joined the company 7 years ago. I have yet to see a system that I could conclude had surge damage that was properly connected to a Panamax unit. I have seen several panamax units that were clearly damaged themselves, but none of the connected equipment had problems. We see damaged equipment all the time that is not connected to a surge suppressor, not connected properly (i.e. not all lines go through the unit), or where system grounding is not done correctly or is compromised.

Our experience has been like yours, they have been great to deal with. They do charge a shipping and handling fee for replacement, but I have never had them refuse to replace a unit. We have never had a claim filed under their warranty for connected equipment, so I can't comment on that. In general, I think they have fine equipment. Some of the higher end stuff is overkill on the filtering for most systems, but it does filter pretty well if there is noise on the line. I think for basic surge suppressors there are a few better values on the lower end, but Panamax is great stuff.

**caser85** · **08-29-06, 08:05 PM**

Man I need to get a surge protector... I have a simple one right now but it's very cheap and I don't think it would do the job. Our neighbor down the street got struck by lightning and her garage door won't even open! It's scary stuff... especially considering all the gear I have hooked up.

**lcaillo** · **08-29-06, 10:34 PM**

Look at the thread
http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...ppressors.html

**markeetaux** · **09-28-06, 07:42 AM**

How do you deal with more than 1 circuit? I have two dedicated circuits in my
component closet. Would I need 2 protection units? Can I buy a single unit located
at the circuit panel, protecting everything in the house?

**brucek** · **09-28-06, 08:13 AM**

Quote:

Would I need 2 protection units?

As mentioned above you can read the discussion here on the subject of whole house surge protection. This will solve the multiple circuits requiring surge protection, but for line conditioning you would require local individual units per circuit.

brucek

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