How do I choose a Powerboard?

The best way to protect your home is by going with a power board that offers as many features and safety precautions available. A surge protector will also have child-safety locks, so you can enjoy peace of mind knowing your devices are protected during an outage or lightning storm.

Basic power boards sold in Australia are required to meet Australian safety standards with a minimum of overload protection, but they do not provide adequate protection. The best practice is to think of every cable leading to your device as a possible way to become damaged from a spike or drop in power.

Check out our range of power adaptors and boards here.

We’ll list the features below so you can understand what you may need for your own setup at home.

Types of Features

Child Safety Swivel Outlets

Power outlets with swivel covers make it harder for children to stick things into the power outlet to avoid potential shock or fire.

Master & Individual Switches

Master switches give you the control to turn off everything connected to the power board, and individual switches allow you to switch off outlets separate from each other.

Overload Protection

This protects devices from a continuous high voltage that may cause overheating or a potential fire hazard. This will automatically shut off the board from providing power and can be reset by a switch.

Surge Protection

A surge protector protects against very short high voltage spikes = microseconds or milliseconds. These can be hundreds of volts caused by nearby lightning or heavy equipment switching.

Fire Proof Self-Tripping Metal Oxide Varistors (MOVs)

These MOVs absorb excess energy caused by power issues such as surges and spikes. These events cause heat, and therefore the MOV is coupled with a sensitive thermal cut-out that will disconnect the circuit instantaneously.

The MOVs and thermal cut-outs are encased in a heat resistant silicone compound and a fire-resistant enclosure to prevent fire.

RCA Coax Protection

TV Antennas are located on the roof of homes with a direct RCA Coaxial line into your living room without any protection from lightning.

Ethernet Protection

This protects your ethernet switches and ethernet connected devices from spikes from unprotected devices on your network.

Diagnostic Lights

These lights can indicate if something has gone wrong with your board when they are not turning on when the board has power.

USB Charging

Almost everyone has smart devices that require charging. With USB charging outlets, you’ll have another way to charge your devices without using a power adaptor.

Warranty & Connected Equipment Warranty

More premium boards tend to have extended warranties attached to them to give you peace of mind that the board will do what it’s designed to do and supply power to your devices during its lifetime.

A connected equipment warranty is an added layer of protection. If the board fails to protect the equipment and equipment is damaged as a result of a failed board, there is a warranty that covers the equipment as well as the board.

To summarise, most TVs with a gaming console and a soundbar use power, coaxial and data ports. This means spending that little bit extra on your setup is the best way to protect them from unforeseen events, and with the added protection of a protected warranty, you’ll have peace of mind as well.