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I am using the following Schuko (Germany) to India adapter (Amazon.de)

Schuko to Type D (India)

I am using this surge protector with Schuko plug (Germany) (APC Surge Protector - PM8-GR - Power strip with surge protection: Amazon.de

APC Surge Protector

Can I use this safely with the adaptor in India? I read that we should not use a powerstrip with a surge protector, but I am not sure if one can use an adapter. If yes, why is it so? I think it should be fine as there are no wires in an adapter.

Porcupine
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  • What, exactly, is your concern about? What do you mean by "use it safely in India"? When we traveled from the US to EU, we brought one adapter and a power strip - plug the adapter into the wall, then the power strip into that, then all our US plug devices into the power strip. I _think_ the one I had had a surge suppresser in it, but I don't recall. – FreeMan Nov 10 '23 at 18:34
  • @FreeMan This question is not about using power strip but about surge protection. They provide similar but not identical function. – Porcupine Nov 10 '23 at 19:31
  • What, exactly, is your concern about using a surge suppressor in a different country? What did you read, where did you read it, what was the concern raised? – FreeMan Nov 10 '23 at 19:36
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    I’m voting to close this question because It is not about home improvement. – RMDman Nov 10 '23 at 22:21

1 Answers1

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Assuming it's made properly, it should be fine.

A basic surge protector is just a set of metal-oxide varistors (MOVs) bridging each possible pair of conductors. In a three wire system 120v system that's one MOV from not to ground, one from neutral to ground, and one from hot to neutral. In a three-wire 240v system, replace hot and neutral with phase 1 and phase 2. Basically the idea is that if excessive voltage (typically over 600v) appears between any pair of whites the MOV shunts it aside before it can reach the devices being protected. (That will probably blow your fuse or circuit breaker, but that's ok.)

Better units add a bit more circuitry to monitor the MOVs and let you know if a past surge burned any of them out so they are no linger providing protection. But the basic protector itself really is that simple.

Note that the best surge protection of all is to unplug devices when they don't need to be plugged in.

keshlam
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