A friend pointed this out to me. Amazon links:
is this case lockable?
That story you've been reading was a ham operator who's man cave burned down last week due to the cheap MOV way past it's useful life in a plastic power strip. What was plugged into it had nothing to with it. MOV's have been known to go up in flames when they fail/get old since at least the 1970's. The real moral of that story is don't buy cheap power strips with cheap MOVs, and trash any MOV power strip more than 10 years old.I just brought this and 2 layers of the foam as well. Of course I added to it by getting a couple of METAL,made in the usa, power strips as well. I have been reading about the Chinese made power strips and how they have caught fire just by having a tv plug in to it only.
That story you've been reading was a ham operator who's man cave burned down last week due to the cheap MOV way past it's useful life in a plastic power strip. What was plugged into it had nothing to with it. MOV's have been known to go up in flames when they fail/get old since at least the 1970's. The real moral of that story is don't buy cheap power strips with cheap MOVs, and trash any MOV power strip more than 10 years old.
"Surge Suppression" was one of the greatest scams foisted on the American People in the last 40 years. Cheap MOVs have probably destroyed more things with fire than they've ever saved from "surges".
Ok, I'll bite, what's a "MOV"???...
That story you've been reading was a ham operator who's man cave burned down last week due to the cheap MOV way past it's useful life in a plastic power strip. What was plugged into it had nothing to with it. MOV's have been known to go up in flames when they fail/get old since at least the 1970's. The real moral of that story is don't buy cheap power strips with cheap MOVs, and trash any MOV power strip more than 10 years old.
"Surge Suppression" was one of the greatest scams foisted on the American People in the last 40 years. Cheap MOVs have probably destroyed more things with fire than they've ever saved from "surges".
Noted...I've got two Tripp Lite's in my Amazon shopping cart; getting ready to add some other stuff and then I'll buy them.
Agree that these cheap power strip's many of us have are a disaster in waiting. I KNOW that I have at least two that are 20 years old. And they look like it.
Ok, I'll bite, what's a "MOV"???...
Ok, I'll bite, what's a "MOV"???...
Tripp Lite products are very good.I've got two Tripp Lite's in my Amazon shopping cart; getting ready to add some other stuff and then I'll buy them.
Note that the MOVs will fail eventually even in the expensive strips. MOVs have a finite lifespan.Agree that these cheap power strip's many of us have are a disaster in waiting.
Sorry, I should not have assumed people know what that is.
MOV is a Metal Oxide Varistor. It's connected directly across the AC line to shunt/short surges above a certain voltage. They can be useful when properly sized and used. The MOVs in cheap consumer "surge suppression" power strips are not.
But as they "work" and age, damage accumulates that allows current to "leak" across them. Eventually when the leakage gets large enough they overheat, which causes more leakage, and you get a thermal runaway event ending in a "POP!" if you're lucky, or a fire if you are not. Thus, cheap plastic chinese (and old plastic American) "surge suppressing" power strips bursting into flames and burn down houses.
MOVs are generally much better now, but cheap firey MOVs can still be had and you can guess which kind are used in cheap power strips. Proper design can mitigate fire risk even with the cheap MOVs, but you can probably also guess that cheap strips (and more than a few expensive ones!) are often not properly designed IMHO.