can turning your surge protector off everyday mess up your electronics?

[racsl0531]

if i turn my surge protector that houses tv, xbox, modem and router cords off and back on everyday will that mess up my electronics?

 

[mbreslin1954]

No, I don't think it will. The only things that might mess up are electric motors, which suffer from a very short surge current when turned on, and can be detrimental to them, but the things you listed are solid state electronics and shouldn't be hurt by turning them off each night and on again the next day. But really, there's no need to turn off your modem and router each day, they don't use hardly any power. But it will protect them in the case a surge happens overnight and your surge protector doesn't work properly.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Nope. Well, mess up in what sense? You've got to wait for the router to sync up with the ISP and everything to boot and warm up. But you won't lose settings, and they won't wear out from too many power off - power on cycles.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Should be OK, but I'd make sure the XBox is off before you turn off the power.

 

[Karadjgne]

Yes and no. If the equipment is on when you hit the switch, its possible to send a spike down line. Also to consider is the surge protector. Some are passive, using an inline breaker. Turning these off is fine, power is disconnected, same as pulling the plug. Some, however, are active, using electronic circuitry to control surges. Turning these off is not advisable as any surges can possibly run through the surge protector unchecked.

Either way, if you are insistent on removing power to your equipment, best course of action is to turn everything off, then pull the plug. You'll not hurt equipment not plugged in.

 

[Eximo]

Not any more then unplugging them or using a wall switch.

While it is true that electronics are more prone to failure at the time of what is known as in-rush current, basically something was already on its way to breaking, just takes that last little bit to break it. In rush current is when the capacitors are well drained in a power supply or other circuit. When they first turn they draw more current then at run time.

Per a mandate in the UK, all new devices must consume less then 1W on standby. They don't make separate models for UK vs the US. Most electronics beat this by a wide margin. (I would have to double check when this was put in place, but it has been a long time)

Your modem and router will consume a little more since they won't be on standby, but you are saving little power with the TV and Xbox.

 

[westom]

if i turn my surge protector that houses tv, xbox, modem and router cords off and back on everyday will that mess up my electronics?

Eximo has accurately answered your question. Only hearsay and wild speculation assumes power cycling creates spikes. That spike is only noise - near zero - not destructive to anything.

However, a surge protector power strip can, in some cases, compromise superior surge protection inside adjacent appliances. Better is a non-protector power strip that also has the all so important circuit breaker or fuse. Surge protection is best done elsewhere using something that actually does protection, connects low impedance (ie 'less than 3 meters') to earth, costs many times less money, and is needed to protect power strip protectors.

I have some receptacles modified with a switch so that one battery powered device need not always charge their batteries. Generally, devices to consider for power off are those that draw so much power in standby that heat is felt on its power brick. Those may consume a few watts. But as Eximo noted, most devices are recently consuming even less power - its power brick has no apparent heat.