Belkin Call Centers The Worst Ever to ring for info on there products

[westom]

Yes I prefer a Voltage around 220V for all of my electronics as some of my satellite decoders are rated 220V

So which appliances died - and why? Ones with motors?

265 volts is perfectly good voltage for all electronics. 277 is unacceptable for all appliances - even the more robust electronics. A utility is required to maintain that voltage - even long before transistors existed - to protect motorized appliances.

Lower voltage can even increase electronic life expectancy. We sometimes install an inruch current limiter to reduce that startup voltage. Low startup voltage is bad for motorized. And ideal for electronics.

You have no reason to believe voltages below 230 volts are harmful to electronics. International design standards define all low voltages even with this expression in all capital letters: No Damage Region.

Voltage can drop so low that incandescent bulbs dim to 50% intensity. That is perfectly good voltage for electronics. If voltage drops lower, then electronics simply power off - obviously without damage.

Meanwhile, and again. A voltage that low is potentially harmful to motorized appliances. So an AC utility must not let voltage remain that low. Either voltage is higher, or the utility must cut off power. Today as was true over 80 years ago.

So again, what is an undervoltage light reporting? A threat to motorized appliances created by what the utility should not let happen. It says nothing about protecting electronics.

Did they forget to mention that? Then urban myths and hearsay can create fears from wild speculation? 201 volts is not good for motorized appliances. And a perfectly ideal voltage for electronics. What happens when 230 volts drops to 190? Internal voltages do not vary by even 0.2 volts. That is what all power supplies do. Make massive AC voltage variations irrelevant.

[Mr 672A]

So which appliances died - and why? Ones with motors?

I had ONLY 3 Satellite Decoder Die during a series of Storms. I Have other brand decoder and none were effected like the Skybox A1. They did not die at the same time but what I noticed is they are the same brand decoders that are effected (Cheap SkyboxA1). I now have concluded that they must not have any internal protection to combat this.

So again, what is an undervoltage light reporting?

Undervoltage light reporting? The orange "VOLTAGE" LED Just come's up in the right hand side of the Belkin at the same time when the Voltages disappears from the 8 outlets. When i wound the Variac back up to 210V the "VOLTAGE" LED disappeared and the power went back on the 8 sockets. Yes I did not want to drive the Voltage higher than 250V to see where it goes too when it trips under "OVER VOLTAGE". But again I suspect the unit ONLY to have a "Voltage" warning regarding if its under or over.

[westom]

I now have concluded that they must not have any internal protection to combat this.

All appliances have protection. "It exists" or "it does not exist" should never be in anyone's thoughts. Perspective applies. Some appliances have better protection than others. Some best internal protection is in computers. If protection in any appliance is overwhelmed, then the human has been warned about near zero protection from potentially destructive surges.

You had damage. That means a surge was all but invited inside. This time it was so tiny as to only overwhelm protection in one appliance. Next time it may not be so trivial.

Does every incoming wire make a low impedance (ie less than 3 meter) connection to earth? If not, no effective protection exists.

For example, since phone lines cannot connect direct to earth, then a 'whole house' protector is installed. However if its earth ground is woefully insufficient (which means it may only meet code), then even a well proven and essential telco 'whole house' protector will be ineffective (just like magic box plug-in protectors).

Effective protection means nothing is damaged. If using plug-in protectors, then appliances are protecting themselves from surges that easily destroy those plug-in protectors. Sometimes, those plug-in protectors even make damage easier - compromise what is better protection inside appliance. A plug-in protector without a 'whole house' protector comes with so many things that are bad.

From this executive summary, you can make no conclusions from any damage. You can only know that any damage means the entire house still have no effective protection. All appliances remain at risk. Even a fire threat exists if a 'whole house' solution is not properly earthed.

Damage to anything means surges are inside - hunting for earth ground. Protection means no surge is anywhere inside for many decades. Effective protection means nobody knows a surge existed. Direct lightning strikes should not even cause a protector failure. But that all starts with a fundamental sound byte. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - today and 100 years ago.

Surge damage is a high current transient (resulting in high voltages). Low voltage does not harm electronics. Low voltage is a threat to motorized appliances.

One final point. Many see damage to a satellite decoder's dish connection. Then wild speculation says a surge was incoming from that dish. Rarely. Most common incoming path of surges is AC mains. That means damage is on an outgoing path - ie low voltage connections that dish. Never make a conclusion only from observation - ie where damage exists. Observation creates junk science conclusions. Electricity only exists when both an incoming and outgoing path exist. Damage is often on an outgoing path.

How electricity works must be known. Too often, observation only creates bogus conclusions.

No reason exists to believe a magic box protector anywhere inside protected anything. Even its manufacturer does not make that claim. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.