surge protector good or bad

[jmw194]

alright, we can chalk this one up to a day late and a dollar short...

We had insane winds last night and after the 5th time in about a 10 minute span I was trying to unplug everything. I plugged the unit (722) back in when the power came back on at 1am. This morning, I was greeted with an error message telling me my hard drive was corrupted and I had to reformat to fix it.

Not wanting to lose all the nice stuff for my kid on DVR I tried to do a reset. I ended up calling tech support and they asked if I had the DVR plugged into a surge protector. I asked if that mattered and they said it could cause a problem. This is odd to me because there is a big sticker on the power cord recommending a surge protector.

In the end I was finally able to let it kill a my programming. I am a but bummed, but I will go on.

So, should I get a surge protector? Will it really mess up things? Honestly I would rather be safe than sorry. Any input you folks could give would be great.

Thanks.

 

[rcdallas]

I've seen surge protectors do good and bad... I don't own my 622, personally I don't care if it gets fried from a surge/low voltage.

 

[harshness]

Surge protectors generally aren't recommended for the ViP class receivers as it messes with their ability to talk to each other via your house wiring.

 

[Tyralak]

alright, we can chalk this one up to a day late and a dollar short...

We had insane winds last night and after the 5th time in about a 10 minute span I was trying to unplug everything. I plugged the unit (722) back in when the power came back on at 1am. This morning, I was greeted with an error message telling me my hard drive was corrupted and I had to reformat to fix it.

Not wanting to lose all the nice stuff for my kid on DVR I tried to do a reset. I ended up calling tech support and they asked if I had the DVR plugged into a surge protector. I asked if that mattered and they said it could cause a problem. This is odd to me because there is a big sticker on the power cord recommending a surge protector.

In the end I was finally able to let it kill a my programming. I am a but bummed, but I will go on.

So, should I get a surge protector? Will it really mess up things? Honestly I would rather be safe than sorry. Any input you folks could give would be great.

Thanks.

I wonder if they meant did you have the coax going through a surge protector. If so, that's a terrible idea. I've not heard that connecting the power to a surge protector would hurt anything though.

 

[daboogas94e]

connecting your receiver through a surge protector is a great idea but running the coax through it is a terrible idea!

 

[8bitbytes]

Surge protectors have a limited lifespan and can become huge liabilities when they outlive they usefulness. The cheap ones are extension cords with cheap circuitry onboard with the potential of messing up your equipment or even starting a fire.

Put a whole house surge protector on your home and use a UPS / power conditioner for your AV equipment.

 

[havana]

Put a whole house surge protector on your home and use a UPS / power conditioner for your AV equipment.

The only way to go...

 

[ekilgus]

I've used a line conditioner instead of a surge protector for a couple of years now and had no problems at all.

 

[harshness]

I've not heard that connecting the power to a surge protector would hurt anything though.

In many cases, a surge protector will cause the built-in HomePlug feature to not work (assuming that it is used).

 

[Tyralak]

In many cases, a surge protector will cause the built-in HomePlug feature to not work (assuming that it is used).

You are correct, unless it's a Homeplug certified one. Those are rare.

 

[tastim]

Surge Protectors are fine (for electrical only... do not use the Coax ports)

The reason some Dish reps say to not use them is:

1. DishCOMM will not work through them
2. Eliminates some Truck Rolls due to faulty and/or tripped surge protectors (or accidentally turned off)

A quality surge protector should cause no problems with your receiver's operation. Something else was the cause.