End Electrical Surge Damage For Anything Connected To These Clever Devices!

Electrical Surges are blamed for many electronic equipment failures. Surprisingly, many more failures are caused or contributed by surges and remain a mystery to their owners. Why is this happening? Let’s take a look!

According to NEMA, “Surges, or transients, are brief overvoltage spikes or disturbances on a power waveform that can damage, degrade, or destroy electronic equipment within any home, commercial building, industrial, or manufacturing facility. Transients can reach amplitudes of tens of thousands of volts.  Surges are generally measured in microseconds.” These surges are at high frequencies.

The general source of surges are two-fold – the electrical grid [the outside power from the power company] and from inside the building from electrical disturbances caused by a variety of events.

Common electrical grid issues come from:

• A lightning strike that contacts the electrical lines
• Utility-initiated grid and capacitor bank switching caused by events like turning on/off power to switch off power to repair a down power line.
• When electrical utilities switch the supply of power from one grid to another, power disturbances occur, including transients or spikes, and under- and over-voltage conditions.  These activities will cause transients to be introduced into the electrical power that propagates into sensitive electronic equipment and can easily cause damage or upset normal operation.

Common inside the building events are:

• Switching on/off of electrical loads like discharge of inductive devices like motors. Examples would include a refrigerator, freezer, garage door opener, garbage disposal, furnace and the like.
• Inductive coupling from devices like elevators, heating ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC with variable frequency drives), and fluorescent light ballasts, copy machines, and computer power supplies.

MOV Metal Oxide Varistor

To address the surges, the power company suggests that users purchase a “surge protector”. These devices depend on a component called a metal oxide varistor or MOV. MOV’s typically consist of a round disc that is dime to quarter in size containing zinc oxide with two conductors. One leg is connected to the power lead and the other to electrical ground. When normal current passes through the circuit, the zinc oxide remains non-conductive so there is no effect in the electrical connection. When a surge occurs, the zinc oxide becomes conductive, the electricity and the surge are diverted to ground. This starts when the signal reaches around 330V – 500V. MOV’s can be sacrificial and will be literally blown apart. To provide protection again, the device must be replaced. Unfortunately most of us would never be aware it is no longer providing protection and we are now fully exposed to surge energy.

Failed MOV

However there is a problem that arises for sensitive electronic components when MOV’s divert this energy. Many of our electronic devices are quite literally computers. To work properly, they access electrical ground as a calculation clock speed reference. When they do – they do not want to see voltage where it should not be. If they see voltage, they often lock up and must be reset. Thus, the plug and unplug routine we have all experienced. “My TV is locked up and nothing works!” Your cable operator will tell you pull the TV’s plug and then plug it back in in a few mintutes. This can be very frustrating plus the affected equipment is not doing its job when in this condition.

Enter A Perfect Solution – SURGEX

SurgeX offers a unique solution for surges. The SurgeX devices are used by plugging them into the outlet and then plugging your device into them. They eliminate surges completely and most models also do not contaminate the ground with voltage. The SurgeX company offers a lifetime warranty against surge failure of their devices and in their over 20 years of providing these has not experienced a failure of one.

They use a very clever patented circuit that works on the principle of presenting impossible resistance to the high frequency surge but letting the desirable low frequency 120 Volt electrical signal alternating at 60 cycles per second pass through uninterrupted! The net result is they pass electricity but completely block surges without failure. In fact, they test them with a surge energy of 6000 volts and 3000 amps to assure no surges can pass. If your devices are plugged into a SurgeX protected outlet, they will never see a surge and their power will remain uninterrupted!

3 Ways To Protect With SurgeX

SA-1810

There are several ways to protect with SurgeX.

One – You can use local devices where you plug your electronic components into them. A good example is the SurgeX SA-1810 which will plug into your wall outlet and then devices can plug into it in complete safety!

Axess Elite

Two – we can install a SurgeX device into your equipment rack that not only eliminates surges for the rack but also adds additional protection. Such additional issues like over voltage or under voltage conditions will trigger a shut off and and then restore when the issue is over. They can also provide a cushion for sudden power draws when they turn on to prevent tripping of a power breaker. There are several models of these each with special additional features we might use.

PF420

Three – SurgeX manufactures electrical panel boxes that mount at your electrical breaker panel and can protect individual or multiple 15-20 amp circuits. They are sold in single circuit versions or a model designed to cover four circuits like the pictured PF420. These circuits are connected to your breakers for the circuit so any connected outlets or devices are totally protected from surges. You simply plug in worry free! They cannot experience a surge.

With SurgeX you can be certain that none of your gear will be affected – it is that simple!