Why Do Power Strips Have Reset Buttons? (Explained)

There are many reasons why power strips have reset buttons. The most obvious is that you can use it to turn off all the devices plugged into your strip so you can easily unplug them.

But there’s another reason why these buttons exist: To prevent damage to your appliances caused by power surges.

Power strips are designed to provide protection against power surges, which occur when too much electricity flows through a device or appliance. When this happens, the appliance will shut down automatically to protect itself from damage.

In this blog I will explain why they are on power strips, what they do and how to know if a power strip has one.

Here’s Why Power Strips Have Reset Buttons:

A power strip with a reset button is typically used to protect electronics from surges in the electrical grid. When the power strip senses a surge, it will automatically shut off the power to your device and protect it from damage. Pressing the button will reset the device.

If your power strip has a button like the one shown in the image above, then it probably has surge protection built in.

For example, if you were working on your computer and suddenly lost power, you may have noticed that pressing the reset button on your computer would immediately restore power to your computer.

This is because when the power goes out, some computers automatically shut themselves down after counting down to zero so they don’t fry themselves when they lose power suddenly (this is called “auto-shutdown”).

Pressing the reset button after losing power will instantly restart them so you can continue working.

Which Power Strips Have Reset Buttons?

Most power strips have a reset button, but not all of them.

The reset button is usually located on the top or backside of the power strip.

You can use it to restart any device that may have been turned off due to an electrical surge or lightning strike.

In addition to providing protection against surges and spikes, a power strip with a reset button offers convenience and ease of use. The reset button makes it easy for you to turn everything back on when one device goes out of whack.

Do All Power Strips Have Reset Buttons?

Not all power strips have reset buttons, but many do. Reset buttons are found on surge protectors and UPS systems.

The bad news is that finding a strip with one isn’t always easy and some people have to go through multiple products before finding one that has a reset button.

What’s the Difference Between “Reset” and “Off”?

Some power strips have both an On/Off switch and a Reset button.

Others have only one or the other.

An On/Off switch turns off power to all outlets on a power strip, while a Reset button usually turns off just one outlet at a time.

This means that if you’ve connected several devices to your power strip and one of them trips the circuit breaker, you may need to press its Reset button several times before all those devices can work again.

What Does the Reset Button Do on a Power Strip?

A power strip is a device that allows you to plug multiple electronic devices into one outlet. The outlet has multiple sockets that can be used for different devices and a single switch at the top of the device, which controls all of them.

If you own a power strip with surge protection, you may have noticed that there is a button on it labeled “reset.”

This button is used if there is an electrical failure or if the circuit breaker trips due to overloads or an overload caused by lightning strikes or other weather conditions such as storms or hurricanes.

If you’re wondering why this is important, it’s because sometimes a power strip may shut down during an outage or if there’s a spike in voltage coming through the lines to the house.

This can happen during an electrical storm when lightning strikes nearby, or even when someone accidentally trips over an extension cord while vacuuming (yes, this happens).

The good news is that most power strips are designed so that they’ll automatically turn back on once the voltage returns to normal levels — but not every model works this way. Some models require manual resetting after a spike or outages by pressing the reset button with either your finger or another object like a pen cap or paper clip.

Some power strips have surge protection built in, which means they will shut off during a power surge to prevent damage to your equipment from an electrical overload.

Some other models have no surge protection and act as regular extension cords.

When Would You Use the Reset Button on Your Power Strip?

You may find yourself needing to reset your power strip if it stops working properly. For example, your lights might flicker or dim every time you turn on or off an appliance.

Or your computer could be acting up and shutting down at random times.

If so, then you may need to reset the power strip because it’s likely suffering from a surge or spike in voltage.

When this happens, the surge protector (which is built into most modern power strips) draws extra current from its battery to keep all of your devices safe from damage caused by these spikes in voltage.

But eventually, this process will drain those batteries down to an unsafe level where they can’t protect your devices anymore — which is why there’s usually an On/Off button for each outlet on a surge protector like this one: so you can manually turn off any device plugged into that outlet if needed.

Check out our other blog here about can power strips be plugged into extension cords?

How Do Reset Buttons Work?

A reset button works by interrupting the flow of electricity from your outlet to the devices plugged into it.

This disconnects the power supply from all devices, including those that are built into your computer and cannot be unplugged.

A reset button will not cause damage to these internal components because they do not receive power when this happens.

Do Surge Protectors Have a Reset Button?

Surge protectors are designed to protect your electronic devices from voltage spikes, which can damage them. However, some surge protectors may have a reset button that you can use to restore power to the outlets on the device.

Before you get your surge protector repaired (or you throw it in the trash), try pressing the reset button on the device. This will restore power to all of the outlets on the surge protector.

The reset button may be located on the front or back of your surge protector.

It will be labeled with either “reset” or “restore” and should have an icon depicting a line going across a circle.

If pressing this button doesn’t work, try disconnecting your equipment from its power source and then reconnecting it once you’ve pressed the reset button again. Sometimes this is enough to get things working again smoothly without needing to call an electrician for help.

The first kind of surge protector is a basic model that has no reset button. These are the most common type and are usually found in the electronics section of stores.

They work by simply diverting excess electricity away from your devices, so they won’t be damaged by a power surge.

However, these aren’t perfect; they may not be able to absorb all of the energy in a power surge or they may only be able to absorb one spike before they burn out completely.

The second type of surge protector has a reset button on it that can be used if the power surges have damaged your device.

When this happens, you just press the button and everything will be back to normal again within seconds.

Just make sure that any sensitive electronics (like computers or televisions) are off when using this feature — otherwise, you might end up frying something else in addition to your device!

Conclusions

A reset button is a safety measure that allows you to turn off the power strip and restart it at will. It’s useful when you need to troubleshoot issues with your home electronics or want to make sure that everything is working correctly.

Reset buttons aren’t common on all power strips, but they’re becoming more and more popular as people become familiar with their purpose and how to use them properly.

Read this blog here about do power strips need ventilation?

Sources

• Electronics StackExchange: What Is The Purpose Of A Reset Button On Power Strips?