Low Surge Energy Rating even for expensive Smart Online UPS's ... Why ?

[Anonymous user]

I'd like to know why most (if not all) APC Smart Online UPS's have such low Surge Energy Ratings ?! Considering that these UPS's cost $2000 ~ $3000 a piece, one would expect them to have an exceptionally high Surge Energy Rating, higher than most common cheap surge protectors available in the market. But this is not so.

For example, THIS (need to click here) UPS only has a 480 Joules Surge Energy Rating, but the following cheap surge protectors offers almost 10 times the Surge protection, but only cost a fraction:

Belkin 12 Outlet Pivot Plug Surge Protector with 8 Foot Cord ~ 4320 Joules ~ $27.10

Tripp Lite HT10DBS Home Theater Isobar Surge Protector 10 Outlet RJ11 RJ45 Coax ~ 3840 Joules ~ $79....

So why is this so ?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

My understanding is that UPSs still meet UL1449 minimum surge protection standards but their main purpose is to be a UPS, thus the surge protection is not the main feature.

More detail here on an older post I did several years ago -> http://forums.apc.com/spaces/15/universal-transfer-switch/forums/general/6060/why-is-my-apc-ups-joul...