I was reading an article earlier that made it all the way up to the Yahoo! News front page entitled
"Six ways to kill your console." As an Xbox 360 owner, I am always hungry to learn new ways to extend the life of my ever-in-danger 360. I keep one eye on the lights everytime I start it up to make sure they don't suddenly start flashing red.
The article claimed that not using a surge protector on your console is equivalent to "playing Russian roulette with its precious, oh-so-fragile innards." Using a surge protector for your expensive electronics is usually good advice to live by. According to various websites I came across about how surge protectors work, there are hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance claims filed each year on damaged electronics due to power surges. Newer technology such as HDTVs are especially vulnerable as they use a lot of fragile parts which can be fried by a sudden jolt of electricity from a power spike.
In the case of the Xbox 360, using a surge protector actually harms your console. According to the troubleshooting page on Xbox.com for a failing power supply, the "correct" way to plug in the power supply is directly into a wall outlet and not into a surge protector or power strip. Why is this so?
Well according to at least one Microsoft support representative, "The Xbox 360 is highly sensitive to reductions in power, and even the slightest cut in power can cause things like the fans and even the DVD laser to malfunction. Surge protectors can cause this, and probably 90% of the consoles they see have all failed in 6-12 months of being plugged into a surge protector."
On one hand, the reasoning does make sense. Surge protectors and power strips distribute current between multiple devices and the amount of current it regulates to each one varies slightly from time to time. On the other hand, however, it means you are going to be taking a major risk that a power surge will murder your console on the spot. Choosing between killing it off slowly by plugging it into a surge protector or taking the risk of having it die right off isn't an easy choice to make. If you choose the Microsoft way, be prepared to rush to unplug your Xbox 360 in the event of a thunderstorm.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-13078-Xbox-360-Examiner~y2010m4d8-Surge-protectors-hurt-the-Xbox-360
