Disklavier

Wanda
There are no products on the market that will protect your piano from a  
direct lighting strike. Or at least anything that you can afford to put on the  
piano. I advise good insurance and unplugging the piano when not in use. A power 
 strip with an on off switch and surge suppression is your best bet. The 
switch  only disconnects one side of the line so it is best to pull the plug if 
not in  use for a long time period.
Surges on the power line can be suppressed with a good power line  
conditioner. I stress good. There are a lot of cheep devices  out there that claim to 
protect your electronic devices from power surges and  lighting. Surges are 
caused but fluctuations from the main power line and items  in your house that 
draw a lot of current when turned on and off. (IE: furnace  motors, fans, food 
mixers, refrigerator, microwave, lights) I guess everything  you plug in to an 
electrical outlet. If you come home and all the clocks in  your house are often 
flashing then the power company is not doing a good job and  you need good 
surge protection. 
 If you want a little more protection get a UPS (uninterruptible power  
supply) If your computer is close by use it for your piano and computer. Again  
there are good ones and there are cheep ones. A 750VA unit would be fine for  
both. The higher the VA number the better, as the battery will last longer with  
more devices plugged in. Some manufactures claim they protect your devices 
from  lighting and give insurance with the UPS. They simply will not protect your 
 equipment from a direct lightning strike.
That said I am an Electronics Engineer and I do not have my piano protected  
by either. If it gets hit by lightning I will let the insurance company buy a  
new one. Most electronic devices today have there own internal surge  
protection. I should put a line conditioner on it to give a lit more surge  
protection though.
I do have my computer on a 1500 VA UPS and it will power the computer  for 
about 45 minutes if there is a power loss. Plenty of time to shut down  the 
computer or save my work. Most UPS's can be setup to have Windows shut down  the 
computer if there is an extended power loss.
 
Good Luck
Alan 
 
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