Wood Fencing Learning Center

How Surge Protection Works - Lesson 1

Another consideration is Response Time (How soon the unit reacts)

<5 nanoseconds response time for an installed unit. In a controlled laboratory environment, we respond in less than 3 nanoseconds.

1. Electricity travels at 11 inches per nanosecond, basically, a surge will travel 33 inches down the wire before we draw it back to ground.
2. Any product with a UL safety mark will have a 48 inch cord, the surge wouldn’t even make it into the device.

Surge Current Capability
1. This is how strong the unit is.
2. Surge current capability is the best way to compare the strength of different manufacturers’ surge products.
3. Our unit is rated to 150,000 amps, one direct competitor is rated 40,000 making ours almost 4 times stronger and the strongest in its class.
4. We’re sure you have heard about a joule rating on a surge device.  Joules are not recognized by ANSI, NEMA, IEC or IEEE as a legitimate surge protection device performance parameter.  This is how that got started.  When the Asians started flooding the market with cheaper versions of surge protection products, they used another measure, joules, to make it look like theirs was the better product.  However, there is no standard for a joule rating on a surge device that does not disclose the amps, volts and waveform.  In a lab setting, you can take any product and make it any joule rating you want by adjusting the waveform.  If you want to compare joule rating to surge current capability, you are not comparing apples to apples.
• Quality of Ground is very important for surge protection
Since surge protection is 100% ground dependent, always test the quality of your ground at any job site.
• Take your drop cord to the receptacle closest to the utility ground.
• Take your digital meter and set it on ohms
• Put one prong on the 3rd pin ground on the drop cord, the other on a clean spot on the ground rod.
• In a perfect world, you would have less than 5 ohms resistance and will be fine for the surge protection to work.
• A lot of times, you will have trouble getting the reading on the ohm-meter to settle down.
1. Usually this means the neutral/ground bus isn’t tightened down enough in the panel.
2. Take the cover off the panel and tighten the neutral and ground bus.
3. Also, check to see if maybe the wire to the driven ground was cut by a lawnmower or other device.
4. Now set the meter on volts, if you have over 20-25v, you have a problem.
It is likely the wall socket that has the issue.
• If not, it could be a home installed ceiling fan where the homeowner switched the phase and neutral trying to be an electrician.
• If you checked those scenarios out and the needle still hasn’t settled or is over 25v on volts, give us a call.