Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:54:40 -0400
From: "Pete-N4KW" <n4kwpete@centurylink.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] surge protectors
Hi Bill, Will be looking forward to your return. I purchased mine through
Florida Power. They mount it behind the electric meter. It has two led's
to monitor the line which you can see. If at any point one side detects a
spike or surge the unit will open up and protect the interior of your home.
By doing so the led goes out, when that happens you call them and they will
come out and replace the surge protector on your line. The service along
with the protector cost me 5 bucks a month and appears on my electric bill.
73 Pete N4KW
## at the Telco I just retired from, we use JOSLYN brand surge protector's
for
everything from 208/120 - 450 kva office's and also 2000 kva offices...[3
phase]
The Joslyn's are also used on all 2860 of our cell sites... and also on the
small stuff in the field..
"switch in a ditch" + some dsl in the field install's etc.
## The typ Joslyn setup consist of 2" square x 3/4'" thick mov's.... EACH
wired
from HOT to NEUTRAL. So 2 used for typ 240/120. And 3 used for 208/120.
Each mov has a 20A slow blow fuse on it's input. At the output of each mov,
it's wired
directly to neutral buss. At the output of the FUSE, a 120 vac neon is wired to
neutral.
Also, a 4PDT 120 vac relay is wired between output of same fuse... to neutral.
Think of it as 2 x MOV's in series, across the 240 line..with the Neutral
going to the CT.
The idea is you are protected with a transient/surge on either hot leg.. and
also
both legs.. in the case of a transient coming down both legs simultaneously.
IE: your 240
vac linear "see's" a 780 vac spike across both hots... and the series mov's
will conduct,
and short out the spike. If the transient/spike is on one leg only, then only
one mov
will conduct... and protect any 120 vac devices on that one leg.
## so for single phase 240/120.... you end up with 2 x mov's, 2x fuse's, 2 x
neons,
and 2 x relay's. ALL of that sits in one box... which resides directly below
the main panel..
and wired directly to main panel's buss..with a real short piece of conduit.
With 208/120
3 phase, you have 3x of everything.. and all 3 x mov's wired hot to
neutral.
## In normal operation, both relays have their coils energized 24/7. Both
neons are lit
24/7. Now if either /both mov's take one too many hit's... and one /both
mov's
shorts out, one/both mov fuses will blow open. Since no more 120 vac at the
output
of the the fuse [ which is the input of the mov]... one/both neons will go
dark. Also,
one/both relay's will drop out. When one/both relay's drop out... a grnd
sitting on the
NO contact is now fed to the COM... and then wired back to the Harris alarm
box. Alarm
comes on.. and fed to main alarm center. Note, the relays will also drop
out/neons go dark
with any power failure. The alarm center already has a separate..'commercial
AC fail' alarm,
so they can easily distinguish between a commercial AC power fail.... and a
blown MOV.
## Joslyn claims their MOV's will repsond in < .5 NANOSECOND. Replacement of
any MOV will
depend on it's joule rating.
Size em too small, and you will end up replacing em more often. MOV's are just
a bunch
of series 'grains'.. and every time the mov takes a hit, a few more grains here
and there
will short out. Eventually, the 250- 277 vac rated mov's will drop down in V
rating to the
point where one more good hit.. and they will conduct permanently... and blow
the SB input fuse.
[Then you have zero protection on that leg].
## If the power co is charging $5.00 per month.... and that ALSO includes the
protector +
install, then it's a good deal. IF you have to buy their protector, and also
pay for the install, then
it's a scam. At $5.00 per month x millions of customers = enhanced profits !
Then they only have
to actually have somebody come out to change out one/both movs... which is abt
a 3 min job at most.
Total number of change outs in one year is probably very miniscule VS total
number customers,
even in Florida. Say a lightning induced surge blew out every MOV on both
sides of a street, the
pwr co can replace every mov on that street pretty quickly. They are all
concentrated in one
area! One truck could do em all in 1-2 hrs flat. How many folks are even
gonna check to see if their
neons / leds are both lit ?? I can't see some old bitty traipsing down to
the cellar every month to check
neons/leds.
## In 34 yrs at the telco, including central offices, switch in the ditch, cell
sites, and microwave sites,
mountain top sites, etc, I remember all of 2 x MOV's ever being replaced. I
looked after all the Harris alarm
equipment for the last 10 yrs I was there..and also had access to every
outstanding alarm in the co, including
all alarm history..for all of VE2/6/7 land. Those Joslyn brand protector's
are an industry standard... and bullet proof for the most part.
You install em once... and they sit there for the next 40 yrs. Meanwhile,
everything downstream is happy.
There is no point in installing puny, undersized mov's.... unless you want to
be replacing em on a regular basis,
which in the long run,saves you absolutely nothing. Beware, some of the mov's
out there have really slow rise
times to em, and react too slow. The peak voltage can get very high, before
they conduct. In some cases, that will
offer minimal / zero protection to devices downstream. Most homeowners are
allowed to do their own wiring, without
an electrical ticket [their own home, not somebody else's]. Any ham that can
run in /wire up a 120/240 line/ breaker
can easily install a surge protection device. The ones we used at work were
plane jane simple. Joslyn has more elaborate
types with everything from "event counter's" with time/date stamps on em.. to
units that will send that same info via
lan/ethernet, etc. Some will even tell you the max peak voltage and duration
of a given hit. Now you are into serious $$.
http://www.tnbpowersolutions.com/joslyn?site=joslynsurge
They now claim they will protect L-N L-G N-G and L-L You can also now get
em with an optional transient
filter.. and also an optional RFI filter and optional SS enclosure. They are
not cheap, but do come with a 10 /15 year warranty. They are built like
a tank. Check out their specs. Most will handle 3000+ 10KA events. And
most require NO fuse or breaker.. and can be connected directly
to your main 200A panels buss. [Most have a 200KAIC fault rating..so no
upstream breaker / fuse required] You can alarm em
any way you want, audible's, lights, etc.
later... Jim VE7RF
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