Any point in surge protectors?

[Mfresh]

I see that thunderstorms are forecast for the next few days, which got me thinking about surge protectors. I have one for my internet router given that I have lost two to surges during thunderstorms in the past, but is there any need to have surge protectors to protect pinball machines?

In other words, could they get fried during a thunderstorm if they are on during the storm? And what about if they are plugged in but turned off?

 

[DRD]

Don't pinball machines have surge protectors built into them anyway ? Depending on how old they are

If they are plugged in they could still receive a surge.

 

[Spandangler]

We had a lightening strike last April. We had no surge protectors and I lost my sky box, router, PS3 and TV.

My neighbours had surge protectors and they suffered the same fate. In fact there's went pop a lot louder and more dramatic than mine.

So not sure it makes any odds

 

[Paul R Owen]

Is that due to lightening travelling through your TV aerial though?

 

[Spandangler]

I don't think so. We don't have anything plugged into the aerial. Plus the router was on a different socket. I think the exchange got hit and it surged a load of houses

 

[Matt Adams]

I think surge protectors are just to smooth the supply out (stop it spiking) a massive surge from lightning will just fry everything. I could be wrong though, Jaki says I usually am!

 

[Chris]

I leave all my pins unplugged to be on the safe side

 

[JT.]

Found this: http://stormhighway.com/surge_protectors_ups_lightning_protection_myth.php

Briefly, it says that it depends how close the lightning strike is, and that a surge protector is only really helpful for everyday spikes and distant lightning strikes. If the strike is close, then the only fix would be unplugging.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

I leave all my pins unplugged to be on the safe side

Sod crawling under all my pins every night to unplug. I'll take my chances [emoji38]

 

[Mfresh]

We had a lightening strike last April. We had no surge protectors and I lost my sky box, router, PS3 and TV.

My neighbours had surge protectors and they suffered the same fate. In fact there's went pop a lot louder and more dramatic than mine.

So not sure it makes any odds

Eek. You must have angered the gods, Gaz. But how were your pins?

 

[Spandangler]

Pins were good Paul. And got loadsa new stuff on insurance

 

[Pooman2084]

You want to move half your pins to another local pinhead to halve the risk!

 

[ChrisH]

Surge protectors do work, however they do have a limited life if they are subjected to small surges over time - they just shunt the overvoltage into a MOV which can only take so much.
Some of them have an indicator showing if the surge protection is still working

However I'm no electrician and I may be corrected here!