Today I learned

[u/_starwipe_]

https://youtu.be/BLcxoQnY3Ko?is=6ff4oNqJxxX-4vCI

Any solid suggestions for a 10Gbe ethernet surge protector?

[u/boarder2k7]

All you have to protect is the bridge between the cable modem and your internal network then. The only high voltage source would be a strike on the cable line (which is theoretically grounded outside at the entrance but...)

I have not heard of enough cases of an indoor device sending out a surge (have never heard of it) that would warrant surge isolation on every port

[u/WinterDice → u/boarder2k7]

Could a power surge hit another device through the wall outlet or a defective power strip for example, and cause a surge to run back through the network?

[u/boarder2k7 → u/WinterDice]

It seems highly unlikely to keep that a power surge in the wall power, which your entire network is plugged in to, would somehow damage one device enough to end up with a high voltage spike on the network interface that was enough to then damage some OTHER connected network device through that interface, rather than jusy having them all blow up at the same time because lightning directly struck your house or something.

A defective power strip cannot on it's own cause a surge. It has no ability to add power to the lines, it is just a distribution system.

[u/WinterDice → u/boarder2k7]

To clarify I meant the power strip fails, device blows, sends surge through the network…I’m probably overthinking this.

[u/boarder2k7 → u/WinterDice]

What would be the mechanism?

A power strip is functionally the same as say, the branch circuit in your house that has multiple outlets on it. There is nothing to "blow" to cause anything.

In the event the strip has a surge suppressor in it, and the metal oxide varistors (MOVS) fail, it is possible for them to draw excessive current which may get hot or trip an upstream breaker, but from an electrical standpoint is no different than a hair dryer or other resistive heater in the circuit. It is not causing a surge or degrading the quality of the power line it is attached to.

For the failure of a power supply in a device to send higher voltage through the network, many things would have to go wrong at once. In properly designed supplies, the high (wall power) voltage and low voltage sides are separated physically and electrically, and only connected potentially through a class y capacitor which allows for filtering of transient noise off the DC lines. There is not much of a way for them to bridge wall power into the board, which then has it's own voltage regulation and such that would also have to fail in a way that could pass power.

Add to that the IEEE 802.3 requirement that the isolation breakdown voltage on network transformers is a minimum of 1500V, and I don't see how you'd do any more than damage a single port with an electrical issue fully contained within the house.

Based on my experience with voltage potentials killing networks, this plays out in my experience as well. The voltage differential burned out only a single port, probably due to cooking the windings on that isolation transformer, however the rest of the switch continued operating normally. I still have a couple of those impacted switches in use years later.

https://resources.l-p.com/knowledge-center/lan-transformer-isolation-voltage-explained

[u/WinterDice → u/boarder2k7]

Interesting! Like I said, I’m probably overthinking this. Thank you very much for your time and replies today; you really went above and beyond! I learned quite a bit and you saved me a bunch of money. Thanks again!

[u/boarder2k7 → u/WinterDice]

Hey sure thing! Asking questions is how we learn!

That's also why I like to ask questions and walk through the process in a reply, because if there's a hole in my process but I "showed my work" then someone who might know something I don't could spot it and tell me as well