Surge protector recommendations?

[Buster Chestnut]

OP- here is a list wirecutter put together.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-surge-protector/

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks. For best bang for one's buck what do you recommend? Definitely can't affort a Niagra!

This:

Get Surge protection installed at your meter and inside your distribution boxes!

and this:

Zero Surge, Brick Wall and Surgex all provide non-mov based surge protection.
However, I have three Surgex rack mount units that also provide under/over voltage protection.
And that feature likely saved one of my systems from an admittedly unusual power condition.

Yes and there are others that have that feature, too.
The top-line APCs have battery backup but, iirc, they use MOVs for surge protection. I had those for years but got tired of managing battery replacements.

 

[Lambda]

Only snake oil? Ok.

Maybe not only but mainly.
Think about whats the (ground) impedance measured from your outlet.
a view ohms maybe? (don't know the local code)
Now lets assume a view kA surge. or what ever the rating is.

So the device can't do much to shunt this current to some place without causing a significant voltage Spike.

Of cause it depends if you only care about differential mode over voltage between L and N a plug in product maybe help a bit.
But for Lightning protection its impotent to limit the common mode voltage (rise time).

Best chance to do this is at Meter and Distribution box where you have the lowest Ground Impedance and "Star Point"

Simpler said:
Do you relay want the lightning current to travel all the way in your house and to you power plug and from this point back to ground?!
Or do you want to get rid of most of it at the meter and barker box.

 

[Buster Chestnut]

Maybe not only but mainly.
Think about whats the (ground) impedance measured from your outlet.
a view ohms maybe? (don't know the local code)
Now lets assume a view kA surge. or what ever the rating is.

So the device can't do much to shunt this current to some place without causing a significant voltage Spike.

Of cause it depends if you only care about differential mode over voltage between L and N a plug in product maybe help a bit.
But for Lightning protection its impotent to limit the common mode voltage (rise time).

Best chance to do this is at Meter and Distribution box where you have the lowest Ground Impedance and "Star Point"

Simpler said:
Do you relay want the lightning current to travel all the way in your house and to you power plug and from this point back to ground?!
Or do you want to get rid of most of it at the meter and barker box.

i‘m not sure why we‘re judging plug-in surge protectors based on lightning strikes or
massive power surges. The competent ones I’ve seen have a rating, usually in joules. Anything above that, yea, probably not going to help. This doesn’t imply these devices are snake oil, the opposite in fact.

 

[Martin]

I had our electric utility put a whole house surge protector on our meter. The installer recommended these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006B81E/

I use these for my stereo: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000513O4/

Martin

 

[amira]

Get Surge protection installed at your meter and inside your distribution boxes!
Plug in things are only snake oil and maybe additional protection.

Maybe behind a isolation transformer a Plug in surge protector can do something.

You might want to read up a little more. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is not in the business of recommending snake oil:

"One of the main functions of the service entrance SPD is to reduce the surge current reaching any downstream protectors (see requirement 2 under Section “2.2 Surge Protective Device Ratings” on page 15 of this Guide). For this use, the surge limiting voltage is not critical. But for requirement 1 (in Section 2.2), protection of hard-wired equipment, a low let-through voltage might be important. Selection of a service entrance protector may require a compromise between emphasizing a lower limiting voltage rating (best protection for the hard-wired appliances) versus choosing a higher voltage rating SPD that may be less vulnerable to temporary AC overvoltages.

Two-stage protection, where an upstream SPD takes the major surge current and a downstream SPD protects the equipment, is the best protection for equipment. Unless the downstream SPD is very close to the upstream SPD, the surge limiting voltage of the upstream device will have little impact on the final voltage seen by the load after the second SPD has limited the surge remaining from the first SPD.

As stated above, the service entrance SPD has the primary job of intercepting large incoming surges and disposing of them into the building ground. However, some of the surge will be conducted downstream to the appliances in the building, and to other SPDs, either hard-wired or plug-in protectors."

http://lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/IEEE_Guide.pdf

Panel based surge protectors have a high let-through voltage. And you also need the second surge protector to be at least 30ft downstream to allow for resistance to reduce the surge energy that reaches the 2nd surge protector.

There's a reason 6000V3000A was chosen for UL1449. It's the worst case scenario for anything other than a direct lightning strike. Of course if you get a direct hit, nothing will save you outside of a serious protection system with lots of air terminals around your roof. Even then, you're still probably fucked.

As I have to keep saying over and over, you should use both whole house and point-of-use surge protectors.

 

[Buster Chestnut]

As I have to keep saying over and over, you should use both whole house and point-of-use surge protectors.

this is what I do.

count me in the category of people not trying to stop a direct lightning strike.... my audio gear is pretty far down the list of concerns should that happen

 

[Speedskater]

My thoughts:
1] the Zero Surge, Brick Wall and Surgex point of use units are excellent products. But very pricey and seldom needed in residential settings.
2] the best plan is for a whole home unit installed near where AC power enters the home.
a] inside the meter (provided by the power company)
b] inside the main breaker panel. NEC requires the the unit be matched to the panel. (the units in post #18 can not be used in US panels)
c] modern hi-tech units mounted next to the main panel. some can text you if they need servicing.
https://shedheads.net/whole-house-surge-protectors/
https://ipropertymanagement.com/reviews/best-whole-home-surge-protector

 

[Rottmannash]

I had our electric utility put a whole house surge protector on our meter. The installer recommended these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006B81E/

I use these for my stereo: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000513O4/

Martin

Those are affordable. Thanks.

 

[Rottmannash]

This:

and this:

Yes and there are others that have that feature, too.
The top-line APCs have battery backup but, iirc, they use MOVs for surge protection. I had those for years but got tired of managing battery replacements.

Thanks Kal. I have a couple APCsi use for my computers but haven't had to replace the batteries...yet.

 

[walt99]

In addition to the zerosurge and furman that the equip is plugged into, I mounted one of these in the breaker box....
CHSPT2ULTRA
Eaton SPD Type 2 CHSP Service Entrance Surge Protection, 120/240V line, 150V L-N, 300V L-L MCOV, 600V L-N, 1000V L-L, 800V N-G, 600V L-G VPR, 22 kA SCCR, NEMA 4, Single-phase, 60 Hz, 20 kA nominal current discharge, 108 kA surge current

 

[Robonaut]

Thanks for the input, everyone!

I ended up ordering a ZeroSurge 8R15W.

 

[wgb113]

Thunderstorm season and the occasional brownout we see here year round has me thinking about what to do to protect the audio gear. If I were to get something installed at the meter or panel to protect against (relatively) minor spikes could an offline UPS be beneficial against minor sags that are short in duration? Do I need to consider anything else with my whole house generator?

 

[audio2design]

Y

Panel based surge protectors have a high let-through voltage. And you also need the second surge protector to be at least 30ft downstream to allow for resistance to reduce the surge energy that reaches the 2nd surge protector.

There's a reason 6000V3000A was chosen for UL1449. It's the worst case scenario for anything other than a direct lightning strike. Of course if you get a direct hit, nothing will save you outside of a serious protection system with lots of air terminals around your roof. Even then, you're still probably fucked.

As I have to keep saying over and over, you should use both whole house and point-of-use surge protectors.

6KV/3KA is just one of many levels used in different aspects of UL1449 testing. 1449 currently supports up to 20KV/10KA, and will likely be extended for standardization. For outdoor equipment, you don't need a direct hit to get more than 6KV/3KA. 6KV/3KA is likely the worse you will see indoors in a commercial environment unless you get a nearby hit which is why it was chosen.

You are absolutely right, a layered approach to surge protection is the best thing you can do. Get the biggest whole-home unit you can justify, and then use point of load surge protection. The surge protection built into your equipment is absolutely no substitute for point of load surge suppression. w.r.t. the 30 feet, absolutely any distance is an advantage, and it is not just a matter of resistance, the substantial inductance of the AC lines also is important to reducing voltage. How important is a factor of what type of surge you are dealing with. Unfortunately lightning based surge is longer in duration so inductance is not as big of a help, but can't hurt. It absolutely softens the voltage peaks and can allow time for the whole home to clamp before a jump over voltage reaches your equipment.

With layering, your whole-home will limit to say voltage X, which could be say 2000V. The combination of the resistance and inductance of the wires in your house, and the point of load surge suppressor will drop that peak to <1,000V, or perhaps higher voltage, but with less energy. That is enough for the surge suppression in the end equipment coupled with the usual inductances, etc. to survive. Most equipment targeted for the home has some surge capability, but it is pretty limited. The transformers and capacitors in linear power supplies make pretty good surge suppressors. That is essentially how a SurgeX works. Some inductance, a diode bridge, and a capacitor floating at the peak of the line voltage to absorb the surge.

The non-sacrificial surge protection, i.e. like SurgeX, and what is in some Furman's, etc. is good for short duration surges, not as good for longer surges. Combining sacrificial with non sacrificial gives you best of both worlds. The long surges have more total energy, which will eventually pop your MOVs, but that is what fuses are for. When you have high enough energy, it is surprising how fast a fuse can blow.

 

[jtwrace]

 

[gattaca]

I only use SurgeX and mostly the SX1115RT and SX1120 units b/c they have the COVUS range with Series-mode surgex + high voltage shutdown integrated into a 1U panel. I also use the SurgeX SEQ / sequencers cascading to turn on/off the main power amps and other components triggered by the main AVR.

FWIW, if you are patient, you can find used SX1115RT/SX1120 units on ebay many times in excellent condition for a reasonable used price from reputable sellers. I've used SurgeX for 20+ years in my AV setup and so far, no kills. I've recommended looking on eBay many times and have received PMs thanking me for the tip. There's a trick that they need b/c they often show up as "not working" and that's usually b/c some of these use the green Phoenix connectors on the rear. In order to work, there must be a jumper in place and many times, when these are removed from racks, the folks rip off all the cables and this jumper is lost. It's easy to replace and voila you have a perfect fine unit. I've done this many times and in some cases given them to people to use b/c the price was basically "for parts."

I also have and use BrickWall and ZeroSurge occasionally on single ended items smaller items like PC equipment in other parts of the house.

Also, see this discussion -> https://www.avsforum.com/threads/surge-protection-testing-thread.2916378/

Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.

 

[audio2design]

There is a lot of conjecture, misinformation and old information in that AVSforum thread.

 

[wgb113]

My biggest concerns are:

• the brief drops/outages that we experience here where lights might dim or the power goes out very briefly (seconds not minutes) and comes back on.
• any effect the generator kicking on/off might have.

 

[audio2design]

Just to clear up some confusion. In surge protector world, parallel surge protection means the surge protector is in parallel to the line/load. A series surge protector means that the surge protector sits between the line and the load. That is not to be confused with what SurgeX does which is a series mode implementation, but using non sacrificial elements, but I certainly hope they have some sacrificial elements between line/neutral and ground as I don't think their "series mode" protection covers those connection modes. I am okay with "ground contamination", I would rather that than than a big voltage between L/N to ground taking out my equipment.

 

[gattaca]

Suggest reviewing the papers on the Series mode designs deployed by BrickWall, ZeroSurge and SurgeX.