Question About Surge Protectors and Battery Minders

[DwightFrye]

Where I live in the mountains I am subject to rather frequent power outages. Sometimes they are due to Sou. Cal Edison shutting down the power during high wind conditions as a fire precaution. The good news is that I have a Generac 16 kW generator that is hard wired into my main panel and kicks on automatically within a few seconds of the power going out. Lightning strikes are not common, but certainly possible.

I just bought a CTEK MXS 5.0 battery charger/maintainer unit and have installed it in my garage to use for my cars that sometimes are not driven for a few weeks.
It is only plugged into a wall outlet when in use, would it be a good idea to have it plugged into a surge protector, as I do with my computer and audio/video system, TV, etc. ?

 

[samven]

Since these new smart chargers use integrated circuits just like your tv or stereo you should protect them the same way, although dont expect a plug in surge protector to give you any protection from lightning, but they can help with spikes from motors or noise on the power line.

 

[carviewsonic]

Where I live in the mountains I am subject to rather frequent power outages. Sometimes they are due to Sou. Cal Edison shutting down the power during high wind conditions as a fire precaution. The good news is that I have a Generac 16 kW generator that is hard wired into my main panel and kicks on automatically within a few seconds of the power going out. Lightning strikes are not common, but certainly possible.

I just bought a CTEK MXS 5.0 battery charger/maintainer unit and have installed it in my garage to use for my cars that sometimes are not driven for a few weeks.
It is only plugged into a wall outlet when in use, would it be a good idea to have it plugged into a surge protector, as I do with my computer and audio/video system, TV, etc. ?

I have surge protectors on my smart chargers. The surge protectors are inexpensive, and might someday save a charger from an early death.

 

[atikovi]

Battery minders have warranties. What does it say about it?

 

[daves87rs]

I have surge protectors on my smart chargers. The surge protectors are inexpensive, and might someday save a charger from an early death.

This!

 

[Kruse]

Here's my story on a surge protector:
I live out in the country and at the end of the line from our electrical supplier. Our electricity goes out at least on a monthly basis, although it's usually just for a couple of seconds. Our internet supplier gave us a surge protector to use on our internet components. It's the brand that advertises "up to $50,000 worth of protection" when plugged into it. About 15 years ago, we had a big, dark cloud come over us during the day. My son happened to be on the desktop computer at the time. Suddenly, there was a loud boom and the inside of the house was one big bright flash, from a lightning strike, of course. Just about all house appliances that were plugged into an outlet was destroyed, from the TV, refrigerator, freezer, other appliances included. Everything that was unplugged was fine. (That fact I'll get to later) So when it came to getting payment for the desktop computer, the monitor and the printer, we contacted the surge protector manufacturer and told them our story, hoping to get payment for our computer components. They told us to send them the surge protector for inspection. A couple of weeks later they sent it back saying there was nothing wrong with it. I called the company for their analysis and they told me that the surge protector worked fine. The problem was that there was "static in the house" that destroyed all of our computer components and other appliances. But yet, things that weren't plugged into wall outlets were fine. They flat out wouldn't pay for anything.
Bottom line: surge protectors are fine, just don't reply on them to be the almighty savior.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Another area in your house that you should consider surge protection is electric garage door openers. Most newer house have all garage outlets on a GFI circuit, but even that can have issues when it comes to surges and lightning protection.

I have a Sears Craftsman opener, and the surge protector plugged into the outlet where it is plugged into has saved me more than once.

 

[DwightFrye]

I have a total of 9 electrical outlets in the garage. The two that are closest to the garage door are the GFI types. The other six around the walls plus the overhead outlet that the door opener is plugged into are standard outlets.

The CTEK device will be plugged into one of the GFI outlets. Are the other outlets in the garage typically wired in series with the GFI outlets ? The house was built in 2018 and the garage is completely finished. I could add a surge protector to the overhead outlet for the garage door opener for about $10 so it is easy enough to do.

I'll use one for the CTEK as well. The electrical systems on cars these days are so complicated I'd hate to think what could happen should some kind of spike feed back to the car. The CTEK quick connector is hard wired to a bus bar on a set of accessory terminals and a body ground on the car (as recommended by the automaker for their own battery minder, which is a rebranded CTEK anyway) and the other car will be charged by using the CTEK alligator clamps directly to the positive terminal on the battery and a body ground.

 

[meep]

For lightning, I learned in IT years ago to tie two square knots right on top of each other in the power cord of the surge suppressor. of course, the frequency of lightning - type hits is pretty low, but I’ve got to say, it does have an effect. We had a nearby strike that fried a few suppressors. mine was hit too, but the black mark on the floor which followed the cord ended at the double knot. None of the devices plugged in to it were harmed.

as far as protecting trickle chargers, the step-down transformer types will be pretty resilient. The more common solid state models today would benefit some from surge but probably even more from noise filtration, which would hopefully act sooner on transients smaller than “Surge”. The clamping voltage for surge suppressers is pretty high. you’d be surprised to see how much stuff is Not included in a simple surge protector.

 

[Donald]

I have a total of 9 electrical outlets in the garage. The two that are closest to the garage door are the GFI types. The other six around the walls plus the overhead outlet that the door opener is plugged into are standard outlets.

The CTEK device will be plugged into one of the GFI outlets. Are the other outlets in the garage typically wired in series with the GFI outlets ? The house was built in 2018 and the garage is completely finished. I could add a surge protector to the overhead outlet for the garage door opener for about $10 so it is easy enough to do.

I'll use one for the CTEK as well. The electrical systems on cars these days are so complicated I'd hate to think what could happen should some kind of spike feed back to the car. The CTEK quick connector is hard wired to a bus bar on a set of accessory terminals and a body ground on the car (as recommended by the automaker for their own battery minder, which is a rebranded CTEK anyway) and the other car will be charged by using the CTEK alligator clamps directly to the positive terminal on the battery and a body ground.

The GFI outlets are often setup to protect downstream outlets. Pop the GFI and see if other outlets also go out.

I do not rely of surge protector to do much. Some when a surge hits deal with the surge, turn the red light off and keep on working. The next surge will fry your electronics.

I use UPS for critical electronics.