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APC saves the day from a shocking experience

Thursday was an interesting day.  As is my normal custom, I was up late–well into the morning.  About four hours into what would have been a great sleep, I was startled awake by a rather loud bang.  At first I thought to ignore it; however, some unusual sounds continued to echo throughout the house.

I stumbled out of bed and down the stairs to our main floor.  It was then that I noticed the torrential rain fall.  It was also then that I discovered the source of the unusual noise: our Philips surround sound system.  Oddly enough, it was in standby mode (i.e. turned off) yet there were crackling, static sounds ringing from the speakers.  As I drew closer I was greeted with the pungent smell of burning electronics.  I immediately realized that for the first time in over two decades of using computers and electronics, I was experiencing had experienced a power surge–no doubt from the storm taking place outside.

I immediately unplugged everything (a single plug connects the TV, DVD-Recorder, Apple TV, Nintendo Wii, and surround sound system through an APC surge protector–and yes, I have a lot of toys, but that’s not the story being told here).  I was still quite groggy so I quickly made sure there was no smoke, fire, etc. emanating from any of the gadgets and then laid down on the couch to have brief rest (and wake up).

After about 30-minutes I arose and woke my computer from its sleep to send an e-mail to Sophia and share the interesting story.  At this point I figured our surround system had bid us adieu; and considering it, along with several hundred dollars in other equipment, were connected to the same power source, I was not optimistic about the state of our remaining entertainment appliances.

I was surprised when I noticed my laptop running on battery power.  I discovered the surge protector it was plugged into (also APC, and different from the first) was switched off.  I assumed it was a result of the surge and pressed the reset button.  It was then I noticed the base unit for our cordless phone was also not on.  Regretably, it was not plugged into a surge protector, but directly into the outlet.  The power brick was incredibly hot, I removed it before it did any further damage.

After sending a preliminary e-mail I began to examine the “damage.”  When I opened the glass door of the entertainment unit, I found black soot everywhere.  As I continued to look around inside I found the APC surge protector had selflessly sacrificed its life for that of our equipment.  I grabbed a spare power bar and slowly began to turn on all the pieces in our entertainment cabinet.  Thankfully, every last one worked!  The APC had saved the day (and literally hundreds of dollars).

The APC’s sacrifice did come at a price.  The unit itself is not longer able to suppress power surges; it’s been decommissioned now.  The intensity of the power surge also caused the plastic on the underside to melt a hole through the unit as it spewed black soot everywhere.  After the clean up and set up of a new surge protector, I looked at our cordless phone.

I had a spare A/C adapter from a previous Panasonic cordless phone and it was actually the exact same power rating as the one damaged in the storm.  Unfortunately, the surge not only fried the original A/C adapter, but the base unit as well.  Rest in Peace, (Model) KX-TG5571.

Regrettably, the surge protector guarding the safety of my laptop, Sophia’s laptop, and an external hard drive used for our Time Machine backups had also sacrificed its life.  Blowing the same black soot everywhere (I didn’t notice this earlier in the morning when I was still mostly asleep).  The cordless phone base unit and the second surge protector (which connected to the laptops and hard drive) were plugged into the same outlet.  Not-so-regrettably, the laptops and hard drive survived without incident as the second surge protector took one for the team.

I must hand it to APC, they make great products.  They are a bit pricey, but it’s more than worth it.  For the price of about $70, the two surge protectors literally saved us thousands.  I can’t imagine how my heart would have sank into my chest at the thought of both computers and a backup drive being lost in one fell swoop.

The story does have a happy ending.  Since I now needed to replace two surge protectors, I found an APC UPS (Uninterupted Power Supply, A.K.A. battery backup for computers) online for only $40.  When I went to APC’s web site I had an online chat with one of their customer service representatives; he agreed to cover the more expensive surge protector under warranty.  APC also agreed to pay all shipping costs, including the return of the spent unit back to their facility.

The house still has a burned electronics scent after nearly a full 24-hours; however, I’m grateful that throughout a horrible experience, a little ounce of prevention saved us from what would have been a horrifically expensive and inconvenient situation.

It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t protect your expensive (and sensitive) electronic equipment, you’re setting yourself up for a disappointing moment at some point in the future.  A small investment more than paid off for us, and APC gets a thumbs-up in my books!

Update:  The Welland Tribune has an article posted on their site about the incident.

Click the link for some pictures of the APC unit that suffered brunt of the damage, as well as a memorial to the phone/answering machine that served without fail for only a few years.

Lost:

• Two APC surge protectors;
• One Panasonic cordless phone.

Saved:

• Apple MacBook Pro laptop;
• Apple MacBook laptop;
• LaCie external hard drive;
• LG LCD Television;
• Philips DVD Recorder;
• Philips 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound System;
• Nintendo Wii;
• Apple TV;
• Dynex 5-port Ethernet switch (not that I really care about this one).