[Elecraft] [OT} Whole House Surge Protection

[Alan Bloom]

Thanks Don.  It's a metal case held together with screws, so there 
should be no trouble opening it up to clip out the MOVs.  The question 
is whether I should do that.  You pay extra for them, after all.  :=)

Alan N1AL


On 2/1/2013 2:44 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
> Alan,
>
> It should be a simple matter to open the strip and clip out the MOVs
> (unless the construction is glued plastic).
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 2/1/2013 4:43 PM, Alan Bloom wrote:
>> The problem is it is getting hard to find decent-quality outlet strips
>> that DON'T have surge protection built in.  I am currently building up
>> a second studio for KBBF-FM, a community bi-lingual station here in
>> Santa Rosa.  I wanted an outlet strip with some sockets spaced far
>> enough apart to accommodate several wall transformers.  I found the
>> perfect device at Home Depot, but it has surge protection built in.
>>
>> Should I crack it open and remove the MOVs?
>>
>> Alan N1AL
>>
>>
>> On 2/1/2013 12:02 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
>>> On 2/1/2013 10:21 AM, Mark Bayern wrote:
>>>> Someone brought out the fact that a power strip or some other device
>>>> with a surge protector built in should cover everything on that
>>>> particular leg.  It's a parallel circuit.
>>>
>>> Nope.  ANY shunt mode device (MOV) operates by conducting the spike to
>>> the green wire or the neutral.  The resulting current raises the voltage
>>> on the green wire (which is connected to the chassis of the equipment
>>> plugged into the "protected" outlet) to some very high value, depending
>>> on the spike that sets it off. In the case of lightning, this can be
>>> a lot.
>>>
>>> Now, consider equipment connected to two different power strips, with or
>>> without an MOV, or to different locations, or to another ground.  ALL of
>>> those other points will be at a different potential as a result of
>>> seeing the same spike, and again, in the case of lightning, that can be
>>> a VERY large difference. it is the DIFFERENCE in potential from one
>>> piece of gear to the other that fries those Ethernet ports, and it would
>>> also fry signal interconnect circuitry for audio and video.
>>>
>>> THIS is why MOVs are a really bad idea on branch circuits. Those of us
>>> working in pro audio have LOTS of interconnected equipment, often at
>>> widely separated points, so we learned all of this the hard way nearly
>>> 20 years ago. Our solution has been to use SERIES-MODE Surge Protectors,
>>> and that has been quite effective.  SurgeX and Brick Wall are the only
>>> two companies I know of that have licensed the series mode patent. Their
>>> products are not cheap, but they work.  I have SurgeX protectors on all
>>> of my ham gear, computers, and audio/video gear.
>>>
>>> 73, Jim K9YC
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