************************** Moderator's Note **************************
* *
* When I get posts on subjects I don't know many details for, I turn *
* to experts who can provide advice. One such person is my brother, *
* Thomas Horne: he is a retired Master Residential Wireman who lives *
* in Maryland. *
* *
**********************************************************************

Bill

I'm putting my replies in line so I don't miss something.

On 2022-11-15 13:18, Telecom Digest Moderator wrote:
> Tom,
>
> Please answer a couple of questions for me, and let me know if your
> advice may be published. TIA.
>
> 1. Is "surge protection" ever necessary for Ethernet or "cable"
> connections? Would you recommend it?

In the absence of a whole house surge protection installation and for
certain equipment even with whole house surge protection I would
recommend surge protection for any circuit that uses metal conductors.

For any valuable device or one you would really prefer not to have to
do without I would use surge protection that covered every conductor
that enters the device or one of it's peripherals.

> 2. Isn't it cheaper and simpler to just get a long outlet strip and
> plug all my wall-warts into that? What do 3-or-4-foot-long outlet
> strips cost?

I don't have current pricing in my head but the cost is bearable.
Using a cord and plug connected piece of Plugmold on the back of your
desk or anywhere else you have several wall warts is how I would do
it. You can then supply the strip of Plugmold through a good quality
surge protector.

> 3. Come to think of it, do tiny transformers feeding miniscule loads
> ever *need* surge protection?

That will depend on what the wall wart supplies and how it is built.
Since it is very hard to know the answer to the second question I
would protect every one that supplies something that also has other
wires running to or from it. The whole idea here is to avoid any sharp
difference in voltage that will go higher than the withstand rating of
the insulation and components used if it has 2 different conductor
pathways connected to it protect them at a common point to a common
bonding point. That doesn't mean that you have to buy an expensive
purpose built protector which is all that and the bag of chips.
Several robust single purpose surge protectors which are bonded to a
single connection point will often cost so much less than an
all-in-one that you can afford to buy better protection.

Tom