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[111888]

Should I have my router into a power surge would it bring any benefits such as less errors on the line?
im on the fttc bt hub that uses DLM to monitor the line

[burakkucat]

I'm sorry but I am having difficulty in understanding your question. 

Every VDSL2 based service, provisioned over Openreach infrastructure, will have the DLM process constantly monitoring it. The monitoring is not dependent upon the end-users' CPE.

[111888]

I'm sorry but I am having difficulty in understanding your question. 

Every VDSL2 based service, provisioned over Openreach infrastructure, will have the DLM process constantly monitoring it. The monitoring is not dependent upon the end-users' CPE.

power spikes on the router can cause errors? if you had router plugged into a power surge protector it will help reduce that/ prevent it.

[burakkucat]

Ah, yes. Just like any electronic equipment, out of specification main voltages - spikes, drops, surges and sags - can cause erroneous operation. If a proprietary mains conditioner is available, then using such a device could be of benefit.

[g3uiss]

I think the key word is “could” AC supply in the Uk mainland is pretty clean, although voltages are usually above the optimal 220v. A line active UPS or voltage optimiser can reduce that excess.

I have recently commissioned a voltage optimiser in a large charity with significant cost savings!

[Alex Atkin UK]

I have recently commissioned a voltage optimiser in a large charity with significant cost savings!

That depends where the majority of your electrical usage comes from.

PCs for example their PSUs are usually more efficient at higher voltages so use less power.  Where a higher voltage can be detrimental are cheap CFL or LED light bulbs where they assume 220 or 230v so they run hotter than designed and wear out faster if you're pushing 240-253v.  Good lights should handle the full range.

Also if you are a business then its possible that power factor correction can save you money, but for home use that has no impact as we aren't billed for apparent power only active power.  Plus modern equipment usually has its own power factor correction anyway.

[EC300]

Should I have my router into a power surge would it bring any benefits such as less errors on the line?
im on the fttc bt hub that uses DLM to monitor the line

A power surge strip would not stop errors.  Think of power surge protection like the fuse in a plug, it's there in case of something quite catastrophic happening, a once in a 10 year event maybe, so for the vast majority of time the power surge strip is having no effect at all. Also it is usually the case the surge strip sacrifices itself to save the equipment, so once used, it needs replacing, and not all strips tell you they are spent.  Some strips may have a bit of filtering, but nothing any better to what is already in the router power supply.

Something like a UPS or mains conditioner contains more components to filter the mains and clean up noise, where a UPS can go a step better and if things look too ropey can cut the mains power and switch to battery. Whether these transient small deviations or noise makes any difference to your equipment is another matter, as all modems/routers have filtering already, both in the power supply and in the equipment.

[Alex Atkin UK]

A power surge strip would not stop errors.  Think of power surge protection like the fuse in a plug, it's there in case of something quite catastrophic happening, a once in a 10 year event maybe, so for the vast majority of time the power surge strip is having no effect at all.

That's not entirely accurate, they shunt smaller surges too which is why they generally fail over time even if you never had a big surge.

[XGS_Is_On]

Should I have my router into a power surge would it bring any benefits such as less errors on the line?
im on the fttc bt hub that uses DLM to monitor the line

No. Wouldn't change DLM's behaviour on your line unless there's something very wrong with your supply and you'd have noticed that already. Save your money. 

[EC300]

That's not entirely accurate, they shunt smaller surges too which is why they generally fail over time even if you never had a big surge.

Well yes, but they use metal oxide varistors that are typically rated around 400 or 500 volts, so don't start shunting voltages until then, this means surges up to 400 volts or more go past unaffected.  The power supply of the router most likely has one or two metal oxide varistors anyway, which also provides some protection for anything else plugged in close by.  A UPS in comparison will start shunting voltages from around 260 volts or so depending on the model and settings.  Like I said, a surge strip is for exactly that, a one of catastrophic surge event where it will sacrifice itself to try and save the equipment, at other times, it isn't doing anything.

[Weaver]

I have put a posh-looking Belkin unit between my UPS and my modems because I was worried about the possibly non-sine wave character of the UPS’ synthesised mains output. The Belkin ‘AV’ unit was advertised as a mains conditioner as well as a surge protection unit and it’s intended for use with hifi equipment or home cinema kit. So I’m hoping it will ‘purify’ (ie low-pass filter) the mains so as to stop any higher frequencies from getting into the modems’ power supplies. This may well be foolishness on my behalf, as electronics is definitely not my thing. The modems and all other networking equipment is on a mains ring that has no other kit on it, the idea is to keep that mains quiet and also prevent it from being affected if something in another room trips its MCB and causes that mains to be cut. It’s not shared with other rooms and all the other upstairs rooms’ wallsockets are on a separate ring.

So I have made efforts to promote mains cleanliness and keep any possible injected low frequency noise down, which in my imagination might lower error rates or improve SNRM. Given that I have copper lines that are 4.5 miles long the signal that arrives in the house is pretty low amplitude after 64.0 - 65.5 dB of downstream attenuation, so I reason that compared with a received signal that low, even quite low levels of local (in-house) noise may matter. However, those local noise levels would not affect normal people in civilisation whose attenuation is far less, so their received signal is far far stronger, and this includes all FTTC users. So if you’re an FTTC user then I doubt that any of this matters in the slightest.

[Alex Atkin UK]

My understanding is its unwise to put any additional power correction after the UPS as it may interfere with how the inverter in the UPS operates.

Obviously this is not a hard and fast rule as PSUs themselves usually have power factor correction and surge suppression themselves, but I'd be cautious of it causing more problems than it solves, particularly when the inverter is active.

[Weaver]

This is between the output of the UPS and the networking kit. Is that what you were thinking about, Alex? I have read somewhere that it’s a bad thing to put anti-surge kit between the UPS and the wallsocket, so are we both thinking the same thing? (I can’t remember why there was that warning though, what the reasoning was.) I had been a sinner, so when I read that, I immediately mended my ways and removed the offending power surge strip. I had very much wanted to try and save my UPS though.

[Alex Atkin UK]

This is between the output of the UPS and the networking kit. Is that what you were thinking about, Alex? I have read somewhere that it’s a bad thing to put anti-surge kit between the UPS and the wallsocket, so are we both thinking the same thing? (I can’t remember why there was that warning though, what the reasoning was.) I had been a sinner, so when I read that, I immediately mended my ways and removed the offending power surge strip. I had very much wanted to try and save my UPS though.

A quick googling suggests the problem with anything before the UPS is it may limit its inrush current causing it to switch to battery during heavy transients loads.  I've seen a similar argument that using active filtering AV strips is snake oil and can cause weak bass due to limiting the inrush current.

I haven't found anything on putting stuff after the UPS but I can imagine it being unhealthy for the inverter if its output is being manipulated.  At the very least, if your UPS has any sort of connected equipment warranty they likely will not honour it if there was other equipment inbetween the UPS and the load.

[g3uiss]

A line active UPS should have the load DIRECTLY connected to the UPS output. There are a number of papers on this. APC.com is a good read.