Michael Ash wrote:
To the extent that the surge protector is able, yes. However, the cheap
power strip surge protectors that people often have are unlikely to absorb
a lighting strike. If this is your goal, make sure you purchase one that
says it can handle it. ...

Show me a surge protector with numbers that can 'absorb' or therefore
eliiminate surges? Myth purveyors - those who never looked inside nor
read a manufacturer datasheet - believe a surge protector somehow stops
or absorbs what three miles of sky could not. An appliance connects
directly to AC mains when plugged into a power strip protector. What
is 'in series' to absorb those joules? Nothing. There is no
electrical dam inside that power strip protector. Absorbing is not a
protector function. But with profits so high, myth promoters need you
to make that assumption and hope you ignore those numbers. How many
joules?

They are shunt mode devices. They become conductors only during a
transient - shunting a transient to all other wires. IOW transient now
has even more wires to find earth ground destructively via adjacent
appliances. Yes, adjacent protectors have even contributed to damage
of a powered off appliance. What is the shunt path to earth? Reread
the Carswell story. That transient will seek any path to earth. Give
it a better, non-destructive path; no damage. That is what 'whole
house' protectors and lightning rods accomplish because they provide a
shorter path to earth. Nothing absorbed by protector or lightning rod.

Effective protectors are best located farther from an appliance and
as close to earth ground as is possible ... to shunt to earth. But
again. Show me the numbers. Do you really believe a protector rated
for but hundreds of joules will absorb thousands or millions of joules?

There is no stopping or blocking of lightning as plug-in
protector manufacturers hope you believe. Lightning
damage is made irrelevant by installing a so inexpensive
and properly sized 'whole house' protector on AC mains
where that wire enters the building AND earthed to same
electrode used by telephone and cable TV. Effective
protectors are found in Lowes, Home Depot, and
electrical supply houses using responsible brand names
such as Intermatic, Siemens, Cutler-Hammer, Leviton,
Square D, and GE. Effective protector for a typically
most destructive lightning path costs about $1 per
protected appliance.

That protector also does not stop or absorb anything. A
protector is only as effective as its earth ground.
Effective protectors make a short and temporary
connection to earth.

Cheap power strips include those $150 Monster Cable products sold in
Circuit City. How do you know they are cheap? Where is the dedicated
earthing wire? No earth ground means no effective protection.