Surge protector recommendations?

[Lambda]

Thoughts?

it's a consumable.
MOVs age and fail. if they fail and don't have extra thermal fuse protection they often bun energy and later themselves

Surge Protector Fires

Surge Protector Fires due to Varisistor Failures and Overloads.

www.electrical-forensics.com

i would not want to have replace receptacles after a surge or a view years

 

[Speedskater]

MOV's have been popular for over 4 decades, the newer ones are a lot better than the early ones that had a often repeated bad reputation.

 

[TheInquiring]

3) then used UPSes + SurgeX units in the last stages before the AV equipment.

Do I understand correctly in this case SurgeX is connected to the wall, and UPS is connected directly to SurgeX? Sorry for the silly question: I am just a humble musician, not an electrical engineer... Could you also please comment on the advantages SurgeX offers over similar products from BrickWall or ZeroSurge?

 

[restorer-john]

Just unplug your chit when it's not in use.

 

[gattaca]

All 3 - BrickWall, ZeroSurge and SurgeX deploy licensed variations of the patented series-mode device (SMD) suppression circuitry which I recall is owned by ZeroSurge.. but don't quote me on the patent owner.

Using any of the three is, IMHO, far superior to _ANY_ MOV-based surge suppression devices.

Depending on the UPS, and I use "pure sine-wave" only units, it's your choice on "before or after the UPS" It depends on what you value the most - the equipment or the UPS.

a) Before UPS - The SMD protects the UPS - BUT some UPSes consume a lot of power on startup/powering on/in-rush. That _may_ trip the SMD into protect modes. It's also still possible for the UPS itself to fail and generate downstream damages.

b) After UPS - The SMD protects the downstream components (as good as can be) and _not_ the UPS. And you might get some electrical noise filtering from the SMD units - depending on model.

Most of today's consumer-grade UPSes deploy MOV's inside to offer some "surge suppression" protection so they can claim that in the marketing.

I "prefer" to use the older SurgeX units SR1115/SR1120/RT which have the COVUS protection. The newest SurgeX, which used to be made in NC, are no longer "Made in the USA" so I'd stay clear of them. The RT model is important b/c it has all the tech embedded: COVUS, ICE, Filtering etc.. whereas the very similar model SX-1115 or SX-1115-R does NOT have all those goodies!

SurgeX units are sold often on eBay and most are in great, usable condition. Yes, they have "No Warranty" but that's not important to me. What is? I want the unit to do the job it's designed for at a budget friendly final cost to me.

Just watch out for the 7 pin Green Remote Control Socket on the rear being empty as many times people who do not know what's that is for and without the correct male plug and a jumper the RT units will not power on properly and they sell it as "defective..." Many times, when these are removed from datacenters, they just "cut the cabling" and move on... The plugs are noted in the threads below and are easily gotten from Mouser or Amazon.

Check out this forum for more details -> https://www.avsforum.com/threads/surge-protection-testing-thread.2916378/

Hope this helps!

 

[Dexter_prog]

sorry to bump this thread. I bought an APC power strip with surge protection (APC Surge Protection Power Line PL8VT3-DE https://www.amazon.de/dp/B005MNROQS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1) and after reading this thread I'm confused if what I bought is ok or if I should get something else. Is this fine to have more plugs and have some protection?

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

sorry to bump this thread. I bought an APC power strip with surge protection (APC Surge Protection Power Line PL8VT3-DE https://www.amazon.de/dp/B005MNROQS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1) and after reading this thread I'm confused if what I bought is ok or if I should get something else. Is this fine to have more plugs and have some protection?

Used Tacima CS948 power bars with surge protection for years. We had a local lightning strike and the only component damaged was my REL sub woofer which was plugged directly into the mains. Took it apart the large toroidal transformer was fried, the rest plugged into the Tacoma power bar were undamaged.

 

[jbreezy5]

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.

Good info, thanks!