lightning protection

I did some checking. My surgeprotector looks like this: It has three parts that look like caps (do you think they're the two caps and the MOV?), 2 fuses, a light and a component I can't identify. Phase, neutral and ground are all connected to it. There's no common mode choke (what does it do? Is that part of line conditioning?).

I've also got some questions:

- In the howstuffworks article, it said that a electromagnet-like part is used for lineconditioning. Is line conditioning probably the thing I need to eliminate clicks and plops in my amplifier?

- my surgeprotector has a clamping voltage of 750 volt. The article said higher than 400 is junk. Does this mean mine is junk? I mean, is higher than 400 V perhaps only too high for 120V power grid? The powergrid here is

230V.

- Mine doesn't have an UL rating, no energy absorption specs, no response specs. Are those bad signs?

- The PDF you linked a few replies back, said that surgeprotection on the powerline and not the phone and the cable is just a good as no protection. Are there seperate phone and cable protectors? And do cableprotectors decrease signalstrength?

I guess the main thing I'd like to know is whether or not my surgeprotector is adequete.

Halfgaar

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If they all look alike they probably are all MOV's. But, it's is hard to tell with just what you describe. They could be 2 MOV's and 1 CAP for all I know. Can you transcribe the markings? It would give me some clue. Also try to describe what is connected to what. Is it connected like a triangle with each device the side of the traingle and the corners the three AC wires? (That description sounds terrible but you get my drift? :-) Can you describe the component that you can't identify? The common-mode choke is part of line-conditioning which you apparently don't have.

Yes. The electromagnet-like part is your common-mode choke.

I do not have a standard answer to this question. It depends on the design. It will definitely be higher than the number for 120V. On the other hand, 400V is roughly 3 times the 120V line. By that yardstick,

750V sounds about right for 230V. I don't normally design AC mains suppressors and work mainly on the telephone and data side so I do not have design data to give you an authoritative answer on this one.

Not neccessarilly. Some countries are gung ho about ratings for everything (eg Marketing driven societies) Some are more laid back. It definitely helps if you do have a rating as that gives you an indication that the design was verified to conform to the rating.

That statement applies only to two-link connections, where the appliance is connected to both AC mains and telephone(modem) such as a PC or a TV Set-top box that is connected to cable and to AC mains. I would say that the statement is probably quite true. Cable protectors (I presume you mean for cable TV) do attenuate signal if they are not built for the application. Always use recommended equipment on cable and telephone networks. On telephone networks, dial-up modems are more forgiving than xDSL. Always use a protector that is designed for the application. Also it is not a matter of simply hooking up protection to every wire that enters the equipment being protected. You need to tie all the grounds of these equipment together at one point to the power ground for the surge protection to be properly effective. You often get a powerstrip with all the protection included for a PC or the UPS has it built in. But I suispect that those were designed with dial-up moodems in mind and not xDSL.

It is very hard to tell Halfgaar. It probably is but you probably should not expect a more definite answer from a newsgroup. Vinay

A resistor is usually in series and is much lower in value (upto a few hundred ohms only) It is sometimes used in lieu of an series inductor as it is cheaper.

Modems work at frequencies higher than those used by a telephone. An xDSL modem uses higher frequencies than dial-up modems. The shunt elements in the surge suppressors can attenuate the signal at higher frequencies because they have parasitic capacitance. A surge protector designed for xDSL would be designed not to attenuate the signal.

Good Luck! I have never seen one with all the protectors rolled in one yet.

-Tube2ic-

Thanx for all the info. I think I know enough (well, for now at least :)).

Halfgaar

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