230V Surge Protectors for the brazilian market

[Anonymous user]

Hi!

I'm from Brazil and have been using APC products for two years now. I own two APC UPSes, I'm on the third unit now and I have one SurgeArrest Perfomance 11 outlets that I had to import because it's not available in the brazilian market and there is no surge protector available here that is as good as the Surge Arrest Performance that I know of. Cheap and ineffective surge protectors are available everywhere... The APC SurgeArrest Home/Office versions are becoming available in the brazilian market, but I think APC has forgetten that in Brazil there is 115V outlets as well as 220V outlets in some states. So why only bring to Brazil 115V Surge Protectors units? I had to buy an auto-transformer so I can use the 115V SurgeArrest Performance in my 220V outlet to protect my equipament and my UPS, which is also 115V, 120 to be exact. APC does send 220V UPS models to Brazil, but I've bought the 120V because it was cheaper at the time. I'm looking forward to buying a 230V SmartUPS unit...

In the brazilian market as well in most emerging and third world countries AVRs (Voltage Stabilizers as we call it) are most common piece of protection device known to the people, and many of them doesn't even come with a surge protection, can you believe it?! Apart from the APC line of AVRs sold here.

You can find these devices at any computer store in these countries, but as long as I know, all switched PSUs can deal with a 30% fluctuation in the line voltage, and most AVRs can only regulate it by 12% only. AVRs also waste a good 10% of the power consumed, AVRs are about 90% efficient and surge protectors offer a better level of protection and is much more efficient, close to 100%, if not 100%.
So I don't see the point of AVRs being so widespread here! I've never seen such big variation as 30% lower or higher than the nominal voltage in my area. Even this week in which our Power Station is going through some technical problems with those big transformers and are waiting for a new one to come from Sao Paulo to be replaced. This is the first time in decades I'm seeing about 20% undervoltage in my area for hours during the day. And my UPS is not coping well with this fluctuation. When it reaches 95 volts it goes on battery power and I have to connect my PC directly on the surge protector so I can continue working. I don't like it cos the computer can still work nicely off a 95Volts output and the UPS insists on going to battery power which lasts about 15min. This is not a usual thing to happen here, but APC could let us change the sensitivity in all models. I can change it betwen, High, Medium and Low, but this is not enough, its on low already. So that's not my point here, my point is:

Why not send or even produce in Brazil (as long as I know there's an APC factory here) good 230V Surge Protectors like those sold in Europe, Australia and other countries? I thought of importing a 230V model from Europe but their outlets are very odd shapped and I wouldn't find any adaptor here.

Thanks for any answer!

Message was edited by: rau

Message was edited by: rau

[Anonymous user]

First off, thanks for the reply!

The main purpose of my message was to ask APC why 220/230V Surge Protectors are not available in my country. I've sent an e-mail to APC Brazil, but their answer wasn't enough for me. I've also sent an e-mail to APC US and their answer was not good either. They just said I should chose one of their 220V products available in their website... That wasn't the question I sent them!! The only 220V products they sell in the brazilian website that work on 220V are AVRs and UPSes.

I know UPSes, at least the ones from APC, have surge protection built in, but a dedicated surge protector is much cheaper than an UPS unit so I feel the need to have some kind of protection for the UPS itself and for the devices that I don't connect to the UPS, like Speakers, Printers, Cellphone charger... A dedicated surge protector has an Ep Joule ou Joule rating much higher then those numbers from the UPS. And in the case of the APC SurgeArrest Performance, they also offer Ethernet protection, Coaxial Cable protection for the TV, VCR or cable modem, things I don't see on UPSes. So why not have the best from both worlds, an UPS and a Surge protector connected to the wall outlet to have all the thing protected? Why doesn't APC make 220V surge protectors like the PF11VNT3 (the one I own) available in Brazil as well, since they make it available in Europe and Australia...? I don't get it...

Thanks once again! 😉

Message was edited by: rau

Message was edited by: rau

Message was edited by: rau

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hi!

I'm from Brazil and have been using APC products for two years now. I own two APC UPSes, I'm on the third unit now and I have one SurgeArrest Perfomance 11 outlets that I had to import because it's not available in the brazilian market and there is no surge protector available here that is as good as the Surge Arrest Performance that I know of. Cheap and ineffective surge protectors are available everywhere... The APC SurgeArrest Home/Office versions are becoming available in the brazilian market, but I think APC has forgetten that in Brazil there is 115V outlets as well as 220V outlets in some states. So why only bring to Brazil 115V Surge Protectors units? I had to buy an auto-transformer so I can use the 115V SurgeArrest Performance in my 220V outlet to protect my equipament and my UPS, which is also 115V, 120 to be exact. APC does send 220V UPS models to Brazil, but I've bought the 120V because it was cheaper at the time. I'm looking forward to buying a 230V SmartUPS unit...

In the brazilian market as well in most emerging and third world countries AVRs (Voltage Stabilizers as we call it) are most common piece of protection device known to the people, and many of them doesn't even come with a surge protection, can you believe it?! Apart from the APC line of AVRs sold here.

You can find these devices at any computer store in these countries, but as long as I know, all switched PSUs can deal with a 30% fluctuation in the line voltage, and most AVRs can only regulate it by 12% only. AVRs also waste a good 10% of the power consumed, AVRs are about 90% efficient and surge protectors offer a better level of protection and is much more efficient, close to 100%, if not 100%.
So I don't see the point of AVRs being so widespread here! I've never seen such big variation as 30% lower or higher than the nominal voltage in my area. Even this week in which our Power Station is going through some technical problems with those big transformers and are waiting for a new one to come from Sao Paulo to be replaced. This is the first time in decades I'm seeing about 20% undervoltage in my area for hours during the day. And my UPS is not coping well with this fluctuation. When it reaches 95 volts it goes on battery power and I have to connect my PC directly on the surge protector so I can continue working. I don't like it cos the computer can still work nicely off a 95Volts output and the UPS insists on going to battery power which lasts about 15min. This is not a usual thing to happen here, but APC could let us change the sensitivity in all models. I can change it betwen, High, Medium and Low, but this is not enough, its on low already. So that's not my point here, my point is:

Why not send or even produce in Brazil (as long as I know there's an APC factory here) good 230V Surge Protectors like those sold in Europe, Australia and other countries? I thought of importing a 230V model from Europe but their outlets are very odd shapped and I wouldn't find any adaptor here.

Thanks for any answer!

Message was edited by: rau

Message was edited by: rau