Surge suppressor bar question

Vitric9

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What is a good clamp rating and why is there 3?.
Pretty standard specs from the very little i know...
120v_60Hz_1800 watts.
here is where i start to get confused though,
Clamping Voltage- L-N 400V, L-G 400V, N-G 500V
Max Spike Current: 144,000 amperes
Max Spike Voltage: 6 kV
Energy Dissipation: 2160 Joules (Got that one)
Response Time < 1 nanosecond
EMI/RFI Noise filter: Freq.- 150kHz 100MHz
Attenuation: Up to 40 dB
that is it for the most part. Lots of Specs on the Box compared to any other store or brands i checked out.
 


L-N = Line to Neutral

L-G = Line to Ground

N-G = Neutral to Ground

Line is the 'hot' part of a standard home circuit. In North American homes using a 120VAC circuit it will follow a sinusoidal pattern between -170V and +170V.

Neutral is the reference part of the circuit. It is nominally at 0V.

Ground is a safety feature. It is constructed to have a very low impedance path from any part of a metal housing on any object connected to a ground network to the saturated earth. Properly constructed buildings will have one or more ground spikes in the foundation. A ground spike is a long metal rod that is driven all the way down into the earth below the building, ideally down into the water table. The building's ground network is connected to these spikes, in the event of an electrical fault in an appliance the current will follow the low impedance ground network path rather than the high impedance human operator path. Ground is also nominally at 0V, but since transmission wires are not superconducting the Neutral line will usually have some bias compared to the ground line and it is possible for a surge to go from neutral to ground if the surge happens much closer to the load than to the point where neutral and ground are connected together.

In any case, the clamping voltage is the voltage that the surge protector will allow through before the surge protection hardware kicks in to start diverting energy. The 400V L-N clamping voltage means that the 120VAC (170V peak) can spike to 280VAC (400V peak) before the surge protector kicks in. This is a mediocre level of protection, but it's par the course for power strips and is far better than nothing. Your PSU should also have surge protection built in, and the power inversion circuitry will pick up any slack.
 

Vitric9

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In any case, the clamping voltage is the voltage that the surge protector will allow through before the surge protection hardware kicks in to start diverting energy. The 400V L-N clamping voltage means that the 120VAC (170V peak) can spike to 280VAC (400V peak) before the surge protector kicks in. This is a mediocre level of protection, but it's par the course for power strips and is far better than nothing. Your PSU should also have surge protection built in, and the power inversion circuitry will pick up any slack.[/quotemsg]

Thanks. I guess 400V clamp rating is average. I saw one for 300V but it was $60. So I am guessing that i wont find better for $20. Well here where they cost twice as much as any other place. The brand i got was a in house name from The Source, Nexxtech generally is re-branded electronics like walmart or Staples would with their own products. I highly doubt they have electrical engineers making sure that there state of the art Capacitors are better than the rest....Back to the SPD though, What are these protection warranty up to $25,000 or $100,000. Are they for real, I mean it sounds like snake oil to me, It would be difficult to prove that it was the Surge bar that failed and then the PSU,then whatever else gets fried..would it not?.
 


Thanks. I guess 400V clamp rating is average. I saw one for 300V but it was $60. So I am guessing that i wont find better for $20. Well here where they cost twice as much as any other place. The brand i got was a in house name from The Source, Nexxtech generally is re-branded electronics like walmart or Staples would with their own products. I highly doubt they have electrical engineers making sure that there state of the art Capacitors are better than the rest....Back to the SPD though, What are these protection warranty up to $25,000 or $100,000. Are they for real, I mean it sounds like snake oil to me, It would be difficult to prove that it was the Surge bar that failed and then the PSU,then whatever else gets fried..would it not?. [/quotemsg]

The warranties are real, but it depends on the manufacturer.

All of my surge protection and UPS equipment is APC branded (American Power Conversion). They do have hefty lifetime Equipment Protection Policies for most, if not all, of their products. APC is a very well respected name too, so I imagine that they would stand by their policies. A combination of surge damaged equipment + surge damaged surge protector would probably be the basis for a claim, but I've never made one and I don't know anyone who has.
 

Vitric9

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Right on. I am looking to get an APC UPS sometime. Right now I have a PowerVAR power/line conditioner and an 8 outlet surge bar from the same time. I think it is 10 years old. maybe 5 not sure. I have liitle info on the brand and type also I forget exactly what a line conditioner does. It seems to work. I cant hear any surges or static through the speakers that would normally be heard unprotected