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Sandy.Tony
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Apple Valley, MN
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 Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:18 am Post subject: Laptop with Ungrounded Plug-In |
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| I live in a rental unit in an old house and just discovered my electrical outlets are not grounded. :( I have a seperate surge protector and it indicates the plug-in is not grounded. First of all is it safe to plug my NEW laptop into an ungrounded outlet? Is the "built in" surge protector on the power cord of my laptop helpful--what about the battery backup in my laptop. Lastly, is there something I can buy to protect my laptop, for instance at Best Buy they have large heavy duty battery backup (similar in size and weight to a car battery) with surge protection. Or is there someway to "ground" a single outlet? From what I can tell any surge protector does no good if they're plugged into an ungrounded outlet. Any help would be greatly appreciated :!: I don't want to wreck my new computer :!: THANK YOU, THANK YOU |
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NickAskew
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 112
Location: Thirsk
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| Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:49 am Post subject: |
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Hi
You're correct, a surge protector won't do you a right lot of good in an ungrounded outlet. Short of rewiring your home to include a ground wire the cheapest option is to place something between your pc and the ungrounded outlet that is cheaper to replace than your laptop should a high surge hit your home - the heavy duty battery backup is a good choice, perhaps a better choice would be the cheapest one you can find as you don't really want it as a battery backup.. you just want it as a surge arrestor which would more than likely be fried in the event of a significant surge.
Cheers
Nick |
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