Can power surges damage POE powered cameras?

[nbstl68]

I'm considering a decent surge protector vs. a UPS battery backup for my computer, POE switch and such.

I don't require my system to be up in the event of a power outage, so in that case, I was thinking a good surge suppressor would be fine.

But then I started thinking, what about the case of a brown out situation where the power does not go out but just fades in and out repeatedly or repeated full outages where the power goes off and on and off again several times in a short period of time, such as multiple times over a few minutes or longer?
This is what usually happens at my home when there are power outages.

So, even with a surge protector, my equipment would be kicking on/off/on abruptly.

So, my question is, could this dqmage my equipment or POE powered cameras even with a surge protector?

I assume with a full UPS, that does not occurr at all as the battery kicks in instantly, thus avoiding this situation.
But if that scenario won't damage my euipment, Id rather not spend a lot of extra money on a UPS.

 

[nayr]

just put it on a UPS; surge protectors wont do diddily squat.. espically for brownouts and they are the most damaging to power supplies, filesystems, and all sorts of memory.

it can damage the hdd's definitely; it can damage cameras if your updating firmwares; its also not unheard of for criminals to cut power in an attempt to disable security.

usually 5-10mins runtime is plenty adequate, power either flickers on/off for a while and/or goes out entirely in most situations.. that covers the majority of service interruptions w/out missing a beat.

surge suppressing is moot when your putting devices outside that are rarely grounded externally; surge damage is going to come from the cameras inducing EMI back into your network when lightning strikes near enough, or worse.. surge protector wont help at all for any real world surges your likely to encounter either way.. only hole-house surge protectors would be at all effective, wired right into the mains.. tha'll stop a surge from a blown transformer before it gets to your electronics inside.

 

[nbstl68]

Interesting point about the possibility of damage coming from the outside cameras IN....Any way or point in trying to ground the cameras individually?