Power strip Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
A power strip (or, often in North America, power bar) is an electrical device used to plug in multiple standard AC electric devices into one electrical outlet. Power strips are often used when many electrical devices are in close proximity, especially with audio/video and computer systems. Power strips usually have a on/off switch as well as a power indicator; some also have a circuit breaker, which can be reset after an overload. They consist of one to two rows of generally 4-10 electrical outlets, usually grounded (three prongs). Many power strips have a built in surge protector: these are often described as electrical line conditioners. Some also provide surge suppression for phone lines, TV cable coax, or network cable.
In Australia, the UK and some other countries, the power strip was considered a safer alternative to using "double adaptors" or "two-way plugs" / "three-way plugs" for multiple appliances. These were "blocks" that plugged directly in to an electrical outlet and provided the power to two or three sockets. They didn't have any form of circuit breaker and a common but unsafe practice was to plug multiple "double adaptors" in to each other to run more than two appliances off the same outlet. This usually led to overloading and either the circuit's fuse blowing or circuit breaker tripping; or, at worst, an electrical fire. This kind of overloading can be easily exacerbated by one using two or more appliances with heating elements, such as electric room heaters or benchtop cooking appliances like electric frying pans. It is now a preferred practice to use a power strip equipped with a circuit breaker rather than "double adaptors" to run multiple appliances off the one outlet; and some building codes and health and safety regulations prohibit the use of these "double adaptors".
Surge suppression is usually provided by one or more metal-oxide varistors, which are inexpensive two-terminal semiconductors. They act as very high speed switches, closing at any of several designed voltages. The most commonly used are built to close at a voltage somewhat above the local mains supply. In the US, this is (nominally) 115 VAC. In fact, the alternating current varies from about +150 V to −150V, and so the trigger voltage for a power strip MOV will be chosen to be rather higher than 115V. In the US, mains electrical circuits are (supposed to be) grounded (earthed), so there will be a live wire, a neutral wire, and a ground wire. Power strips often come with only one MOV mounted between the live and neutral wires. More complete (and desirable) power strips will have three MOVs, mounted between each possible pair of wires. Since MOVs degrade somewhat each time they are triggered, power stips using them have a limited, and unpredictable, protective life.
More elaborate power strips may use inductor-capacitor networks to achieve a similar effect of protecting equipment from high voltage spikes on the mains circuit. Such arrangements are more expensive, but less prone to silent degradation than MOVs.
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