[TowerTalk] whole house surge protectors

[Rick Karlquist]

Jim Brown wrote:
>>
> 99'9% of all local surge protection uses MOVs. MOVs are LOUSY surge
> protectors
> for several reasons. 1) They fail after they have absorbed enough joules,
> and
> can fail destructively (catch fire, explode, etc.). They can also fail
> open. 2)

I'm no expert on this, but it seems to me that if you put a fuse
ahead of an MOV, it will simply blow the fuse uneventfully.
I used to work for a marine radio company (Narco Konel) and
we had crowbar SCR's across the power supply input to make the
radios sailor proof.  The SCR would blow the radio's fuse.  Since
the SCR's were rated at 100A, they would also trip the breaker
on the boat if necessary, in case the sailors bypassed the radio's
fuse, which actually happened. (I wasn't kidding about "sailor proof").

Rick N6RK