# Fuse of Spike guard / surge protector blowing out repeatedly



## sandynator (Jun 18, 2015)

I'm not sure if this is correct thread to start here so sorry in advance if I have posted wrongly.

Coming to my query my MX surge protector had blown out fuse in morning so went to local electrician & replaced it which also blew out as soon as I switched on the main power button from wall socket. The surge Protector has individual switches which were off at that time.
Later while leaving home gave the spike guard for check up to the same electrician & asked him to check out the wall socket too at home. In afternoon he delivered it stating the fuse was culprit again & also checked out the wall socket which were fine.

When I came home in evening first I just powered on the spike guard & waited for some time then plugged monitor cable first & switched it on.
 It was ok. Later I plugged in cpu cable which was also ok. After a minute I powered the CPU on & when windows start up screen was about to show up the fuse blew off again.

I guess PSU is the culprit & now I'm bit worried if the CPU component may be damaged. 
Tomorrow I will be contacting the pc vendor (prime abgb).
The PSU is antec VP450p.

Please guide me & your valuable suggestion & guidance would be appreciated.
Thank in advance.

Edit:
There were 2-3 incidence since last 2 months of long beep noise (from. CPU's built in speaker I guess) coming as soon as the cpu power button was switch on. It went after restart or in 1 case it just went off automatically after booting.

PC Configuration
Intel core i3 4150
Gigabyte H81 board
Kingston hyper X 4 gb ram
Antec vp450p psu in circle 546 cabinet.
Segate baracuda 1 tb hdd
Lg dvd writer
Dell s2240l monitor


----------



## nikhilsharma007nikx (Jun 19, 2015)

Check the fuse Amps, sometimes electrician put left over fuses which can be an alternative but due to low quality they get fused. Buy one for the same amps yourself from some other shop and try it out. PSU could be the case but im not sure, let other comment on that. I dont think that any CPU component will be damaged by now, Hard Disk though have a risk of going kaput due to unexpected shut downs. 
You can also try the CPU by plugging directly into the wall socket and checking it out. or check it out in some other spike guard if PSU is the problem.


----------



## topgear (Jun 19, 2015)

First of all I think you are using some cheap run of the mill spike guard. So change it first to something good like Belkin which may cost you ~500 - 700 but worth the money. Now for added protection you can also get a APC UPS.

BTW, while posting for troubleshooting don't forget to post full pc config on the first post itself.


----------



## sandynator (Jun 19, 2015)

Ok fine.
Editing the first post to add pc configuration.

Spike guard/ surge protector is from MX which is preferred choice in Mumbai & even one person at prime so suggested me mx.

Ordering belkin one today. Infact I would have got it yesterday but the store person told if such thing happens again with new belkin then warranty may not be honored. The Belkin surge protector in my locality were costly compared to Amazon's pricing.


----------



## westom (Jun 20, 2015)

sandynator said:


> Ok fine.
> Spike guard/ surge protector is from MX which is preferred choice in


If overloading is causing a fuse to blow, a fuse in the Spike Guard should have blown first.  If that fuse does not exist, then the Spike Guard is a threat to human life.

Second, Spike Guard or Belkin adjacent to appliances is one of the more common reasons for a structure fire.  Always ignore any recommendation that does not provide numbers.  The numbers.  How many joules does that Spike Guard or Belkin claim to absorb?  Hundreds?  Destructive surges are hundreds of thousands of joules.  What happens when the Spike Guard or Belkin absorbes hundreds of thousands of joules?  Read its specifications.  Either it disconnects protector parts as fast as possible (leaving the surge connect to appliances).  Or catastrophic failure (ie fire) results.

Safest power strip has no protector parts AND always has that so critically important AC line fuse or circuit breaker.


----------



## sandynator (Jun 22, 2015)

Thanks for the reply guys.

My pc was ok. 
Prime abgb person came to my house for service & when he came everything was working fine including spike/surge protector in which 4th fuse was installed. The service guys felt some minor burning smell from psu but  he suspects may be due to moisture during rains & location of cabinets in to closed wooden wall units.

Now I want to get good surge protector with individual on of switches & minimum 4-5 sockets. 
Belkin do not provide individual on/off switch so its striked out so please suggest me something good.

In meanwhile I will get cyberpower 4 socket surge protector@200 in offer from flipkart. Let me know how is it?

UPS Backup | Power Supply | Emergency Power Systems ? CyberPower Systems, Inc.


----------



## westom (Jun 22, 2015)

sandynator said:


> The service guys felt some minor burning smell from psu but  he suspects may be due to moisture during rains & location of cabinets in to closed wooden wall units.




If something burned inside the PSU, well, moisture obviously is not the source.  Something as minor as a bleeder resistor may have failed.  Then the power supply will appear to work just fine until you need that bleeder resistor.  Burning smell definitely says something have failed.

Apparently you did not understand my prevoius post.  View spec numbers for that Cyberpower.  It claims to absorb 350 joules.  A surge that tiny is converted by your power supply into low voltage DC to power its semiconductors.  The Cyberpower only claims to absorb near zero surges.  And, does what when a destructive surge occurs?  Again, read the previous post.

A useful surge protector means you know where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate.  Protectors adjacent to applinaces do not claim to protect from the other and destructive surges.  Best power strip has 1) that required fuse or circuit breaker, and 2) no protector parts.

Learn about and spend many times less money for the proven and properly earthed 'whole house' solution.  Since even the Cyberpower and other pllug-in protectors need that protection.  Otherwise even a rare fire threat exists - as well as near zero appliance protection.


----------

