Why Do Surge Protectors Have Coax?

Have you ever seen them? surge protectors which also have coaxial cable protection?

I have to admit, the first time I saw a surge protector with coax connections I was completely confused – like I was missing something I should be doing.

I was left to wonder: “Why do these surge protectors have wired connections? I missed something?»

Some surge protectors have input and output connections for the coaxial cable to prevent damage that can come from a surge or lightning strike that overloads your system by sending too much current into connected electronic equipment, the same way in which electrical outlets are protected.

I really missed something. Something big.

And expensive.

Once, when I lived in an older apartment, I had a lightning strike in my general area that went through the lines in my house and blew out my modem and router.

Fortunately, all of my connected equipment—my computer and all the other electronic devices in my office—were protected by surge protectors. But not my cable.

It was very nasty and a costly oversight on my part.

If I had known I could have prevented this by running all my connections through one protective waveI would have gladly done it.

I can’t say for sure that it came through my cable line, but through the process of elimination, things definitely headed that direction.

So why do surge protectors have these wire connections?

Does it work?

Are they necessary?

Below, I’ll unpack all of this for you so you know everything you need to know and figure out if this type of surge protection is something you need for your residence.

By the way, before I get too far here, if you want to connect with other homeowners, DIYers, and builders and get more great ideas for your home to make your space the best, join my group free facebook private, Reshape Reality here.

Will a surge protector really protect coaxial cables?

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Surge protectors can help, but only if they are installed correctly.

Cable TV Surge Protection Modules on Power cable may or may not help you. Surge protectors rely on a good ground connection to divert the surge current.

The National Electrical Code (NEC) is a system of standards for the safe installation and routing of electrical wiring in the US

And part of that code details how coaxial cables must be grounded.

The NEC requires that coaxial cables be connected to a grounding block outside the building structure, positioned close to where the coaxial cable enters the structure.

This is the requirement, and while not necessarily a surge protector, it is a path to ground that helps mitigate a lighting strike or other catastrophic electrical failure, such as when a power line snaps and lands on the roof a house.

So there is already a ground, only the NEC requires that the coaxial cable be grounded at its point of entry into the house.

However, not all buildings – houses, apartment complexes, condominiums, etc. – I am up to this standard.

Plus, it might be up to code, but you just have no way of knowing without hiring an electrician to come out and do an inspection, and that can be expensive.

In such situations, using a surge protector with coaxial connection option is a safe bet.

How does a coax module work on a surge protector?

Coaxial Surge Protector Modules seek to protect your expensive electronic equipment in a similar way to a regular surge protector.

It’s important to understand, just because you have a surge protector for some of your electronics, that doesn’t mean you’re 100% in the clear when it comes to potential disaster for other items.

Think of it this way:

Essentially, surge protection tries to either absorb or prevent power from entering your devices.

Good absorption protection allows electrical current to flow at the lowest possible voltage with the fastest response time and will be able to absorb the required energy without breaking.

Good lockout protection will effectively stop the power by quickly locking out and tripping a circuit breaker that stops the flow, similar to how a fuse does.

When a surge hits the module, the internal circuitry detects the problem and immediately opens an external circuit path through the coaxial port to bypass the surge.

This prevents any damage to the electronic equipment connected to the surge protector.

Why do surge protectors have coaxial cable?

The main reason you’ll see surge protectors that also have coaxial cable connections is to protect your connected hardware from surges caused by power surges and lightning.

A power outage or lightning can cause an electrical surge to travel through the coaxial cable and damage connected devices.

That means he can not only hit you cable boxor cable modem, but also the devices connected to those devices.

Surge can occur due to faulty wiring or equipment failure.

These events can damage any device connected to the coaxial cable, including televisions, computers, routers, modems, etc.

Surge protectors are designed to protect against these types of events so that your devices are not damaged.

What are the benefits of using a coaxial cable surge protector?

What the

There are many benefits to using a coaxial cable surge protector.

First, it provides a reliable means of protecting sensitive electronic equipment from surges and lightning strikes that might come through the cable line.

It provides a convenient means of protecting multiple devices at once and a means of avoiding damage to your electronic equipment.

Some will say this is unnecessary since grounding is required by code as previously stated.

However, we cannot always guarantee that our residence is 100% up to code or current with the standard, especially if it is an older residence.

In many cases, people rent an apartment or house and do not know the quality of the wiring and installation of their cable system.

If you’re one of those people like me who owns your own cable modem, you don’t want to risk damaging your electronics.

A surge protector with a coaxial port is a great option for these situations.

You’ll have peace of mind knowing that if a surge were to affect your cable line and it’s not properly grounded, the surge can be safely mitigated by the surge protector.

Does running coaxial cable through a surge protector compromise signal strength?

In some cases, passing the coaxial cable through a surge protector equipped with coaxial modules can cause degradation of the signal strength sent to the display and cause pixelation, noise and other types of electrical interference that will result in less than – desirable viewing experience.

That’s the short answer.

The longer answer is that depends.

It depends on two main things:

The signal strength you receive from your cable provider and the quality of the surge protector you use.

In houses and apartments old, the signal strength coming from your cable company is notoriously weak.

For example, a few years ago, while we were living in an apartment, our cable signal was so weak due to the old wiring and the capacity of the system they installed that it could not transmit a high quality and high power to our apartment.

(Ironically, this is the same apartment where I had lightning take out some of my equipment – ​​true story!)

So Comcast had to come out and run a whole new line directly to our apartment (after a lot of grumbling and complaining) to fix the problem.

But if you have a good signal it reaches you home officeand yet you have a low-quality, cheap basement surge protector, you’re almost certain to experience signal degradation.

Conversely, if you have a good signal, along with a high quality surge protector, then you should be ok.

Should I run my coax cable through a surge protector?

Should

Should I run my coax through one of these things or not?

There are different opinions.

Some people think it’s a bad idea, unless the grow is a component of a whole house system and uses a gas exhaust.

Others think it’s not necessary because in some scenarios, such as when you live in an apartment, a whole house system isn’t even a realistic option.

Some cable service technicians will swear that running your cable signal through a surge protector will degrade your service by introducing noise and other interference that causes less than optimal performance for your electronic devices.

Others feel that when you use the right surge protector that is properly rated, there is nothing better for your system that you can do.

The conclusion is this:

No system or approach is foolproof.

Taking reasonable and reasonable precautions is always a good idea, as long as they don’t noticeably impede performance.

Other reasons why I would run coax through the surge protector?

A legitimate cause for concern would be if you are using a rooftop antenna and your equipment is connected via a coaxial cable.

These are cases where you use a digital antenna or something similar to receive broadcast signals over the air.

If you use such a device, then you must ensure that the coaxial cable is protected against overvoltage.

Otherwise, you could subject your equipment to damage from surges that may occur during normal operation that bypass the grounding standards that would be common for coax cable installation for traditional cable service.

How do you install a surge protector with coaxial cable connections?

If you are planning to install a surge protector with coaxial cable connections, there are a few things you should know before doing so.

First, make sure the surge protector has enough outlets to accommodate all the connected devices.

Second, if your surge protector is also an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and you also intend to use this surge protector to provide backup power, then you’ll want to make sure that has enough capacity to handle a complete power outage.

Third, you should remember that surge protectors are usually rated based on their ability to withstand a certain amount of peak voltage.

For example, a surge protector may be rated at 600 volts, meaning it can withstand up to 600 volts of AC (alternating current) electricity.

However, if you connect two surge protectors together, each would only be able to withstand 300 volts AC.

As a result, you could overload either or even both.

To avoid this situation, you’ll want to install a single surge protector that can handle the combined load of multiple devices.

Finally, remember to check your surge protector’s manual for proper grounding instructions.

You’ll want to follow the manufacturer’s instructions exactly or you risk damaging your electronics.

Why do surge protectors have Ethernet ports?

Just as some surge protectors have coaxial cable connections, others also have Ethernet cable connections.

The protection for these types of connections works similarly to that of coaxial connections.

By placing the surge protector between the modem and the router, and the modem is struck in a lightning strike, the goal is to keep the router from frying even if the modem was damaged by the strike.

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