A voltage spike is defined as fast short duration electrical transients in voltage. All electronic and electrical devices are designed to operate within a certain voltage power supply, which is normally written on the product sheet/manual or on the device itself.

Voltage spikes can damage these devices. One of the more common types of damage that can be seen is when a bulb is given a supply of power higher than its voltage rate, causing a burn out of its wire or even causing it to burst into flames if there is an over-voltage.

Voltage spikes can happen through natural causes, such as lightning strikes, solar wind and solar flares. A surge in supply within power, phone and signal lines can affect equipment over large areas. A storm that is occurring miles away can induce high voltage spikes in another location. Lightning doesn’t just cause surges when it strikes, lightning between storm clouds can also create magnetic fields that induce surges.

Man-made over-voltage is caused by electromagnetic induction when switching on or off inductive loads (like electric motors or electromagnets). Power outages, tripped circuit breakers, short circuits Electromagnetic Pulses (EMP) with its energy distributed up to 100 kHz in 1 MHz frequency range and inductive spikes.

Surges in the power lines can also be generated at the switching station of a local power company. It can also be generated by electrical machinery, appliances and power company operating equipment. Common household equipment can generate 1,000 Volt spikes.

Equipment such as computers, phones, TVs, gaming consoles and home theatre system are at risk from voltage spike damage. The increase in use of microprocessor chips which are highly sensitive to voltage variations makes it even more important to use surge suppressors or protectors. Surges can also cause long term degradation of internal circuitry. This kind of damage cannot be observed and accumulates over time, causing the equipment to perform poorly.

So how do you protect equipment from these voltage spikes?

The answer is “Sure Protectors” for AC power protection, modem and phone line protection and network, data and signal line protection.