Surge Protector for Nova DVR lathe

It is a good Idea to use surge protection with any type of electronic controls. It does not matter where you are electrical surges can damage or destroy electronic components.

Tony - I sold electrical products for over 40 years and was around for the introduction of surge surpression. Basically a surge surpressor is an insurance policy for electronics. You spend a small amount once and protect an expensive piece of equipment. ALWAYS WORTH THE COST!

Just MHO,

The Other Bruce ==========================================================================

Steven Raphael wrote:

I have thought about this too. I would buy one but don't see one for 240.

T> The manufacturer requires that a surge protector be installed to

It would seem to me that you could make one pretty easily. You'd need two of the 110 type and some rewiring. Our 110 is half of the 220 which comes into your house -- one of the dumber things with which we are having to deal because of historical reasons.

Bill

Eddie Munster wrote:

Sadly true

Around a year ago the audible alarm in my SL Waber "wavetracker" began to scream. A surge had come through frying a resistor and the zener diode contained within, but the connected electronics didn't suffer at all. My surge device died that the computer may live.

So yes, surge protection devices, the good ones at least, are worth every penny you'll spend on it.

BTW, I got my Wavetracker repaired since Tripp Lite bought the Waber company and immediately ceased production of what I think is one of the best devices ever made for the task.

"The surge protector sacrificed itself to save the electronics" is a classic myth. First, any surge protectors that fails due to a transient is grossly undersized and totally ineffective. Effective protectors SHUNT (don't stop, block, or absorb) the transient - and remain functional.

Second, to promote the myth, many *feel* the protector sits between electronics and the incoming transient. Mechanically

- yes. Electrically the protector and electronics are confronted by the transient simultaneously. They connect in parallel. Protector connects to AC mains just like another light bulb. Again, they are called shunt mode devices. To sit between transient and electronics, it must be a series mode device.

Third, so what really happened? Protector was so grossly undersized as to be damaged by a transient that could not overwhelm protection inside the adjacent electronics. Electronics contain internal protection. But the protector can be undersized and damaged. Then the naive recommend more of these damaged protectors. If the protector was properly sized, then the human would never even know a transient existed.

Again, electronics already contain effective protection. But that protection assumes destructive transients are earthed to not overwhelm electronics' internal protection. It is called 'whole house' protection - as was installed even 70 years ago. So inexpensive and so reliable that your incoming phone lines has one installed, for free, by the telco.

Unfortunately, we still build new buildings as if the transistor did not exist. Then we let hearsay speculation claim "the surge protector sacrificed itself to ...". In reality, an effective, properly sized, and properly earthed 'whole house' protector makes that transient insignificant. An effective protector earths the destructive transient, remains functional, and leaves the human completely unaware that a transient even occurred. That is the difference between grossly overpriced, undersized, and ineffective plug-in protectors. No earth ground means no effective protection.

Just another reason to grossly undersize the protector. The naive will then recommend and buy more of these $15 and $50 protectors. Effective 'whole house' protector costs about $1 per protected appliance.

BTW, SL Waber once sold the same plug-in protectors sold by Tripplite, APC, etc. But SL Waber was also honest. This statement was on SL Waber EP63 Power Master protectors:

Why would a name like Tripplite or Belk> >> Tony - I sold electrical products for over 40 years and was around for

No matter what the load, the protection circuit would not have failed due to the load because it is in electrical parallel (with the load)

The Wavetracker is/was unique for a consumer surge protection device in that in is uses some very fast response components (zener diode, gas tube) and the usual MOVs as well as chokes for each outlet.

These devices do shunt the spike to ground. Go large enough with a spike and they will fail the component - then the next component in line takes up the slack. For my device the first and fastest item in line (zener diode) is the one that failed.

The "protection" you speak of other devices (computers, TVs, etc.) is the transformer in it's power supply. Do you really want a big spike to get in your expensive electronics?

No paragraph even implied that the protector circuit was damaged due to a load. The 'shunt mode' protector circuit was so grossly undersized that a transient (not the load) damaged an undersized protector. The Wavetracker protector was damaged by a transient that confronted electronics simultaneously and that was too small to overwhelm protection inside the adjacent electronics. Electronics internal protection protected the appliance. Point one: the grossly undersized Wavtracker did as excepted of any grossly undersized protector. It prematurely failed. Effective protectors shunt the load and remain functional.

As described, the Wavetracker sounds equivalent to most plug-in, consumer protector devices. They all have fast response components. Note the slowest responding device on your list was the gas discharge tube (GDT). Some even have a minimal inline choke. However which is this ground the Wavetracker shunts to? Safety (equipment) ground or earth ground? There is a major difference - electrically. Second point: if a typically destructive transient is grounded to receptacle safety ground, well, that transient must travel how many feet back to earth ground? 50 feet maybe? So for 50 feet that transient is now inducing transients on all other, adjacent wires? What kind of protection is that? Protection made ineffective by a long connection to earth ground while bundled with other wires. Induced transients created.

Third, wire impedance is major part of a protector circuit. We apply numbers for a typically destructive transient. Numbers - something so often missing to recommend an ineffective plug-in protector. Wire provides maybe less than

0.2 ohms resistance, but has maybe 130 ohms impedance. Will a trivial 100 amp transient shunted by that Wavetracker take the 130 ohm path to earth? Of course not. That would leave the Wavetracker and protected electronics at less than 13,000 volts relative to earth ground. If the protected electronics is at 13,000 volts, then a transient will find other destructive paths to earth via that electronics. And so we have another major problem with adjacent protectors. They can even contribute to damage of the adjacent appliance. Protector attached to power cord can even shunt a transient destructively through the adjacent electronics to earth ground.

A transient on one wire was provided, by the Wavetracker, potentially destructive paths to earth ground via electronics. Just another problem with adjacent protectors. They are too close to transistors and too far from earth ground to be effective. That trivial 100 amp transient is made irrelevant when shunted less than 3 meters at the earthing point. Effective solution is called a 'whole house' protector.

Described are reasons why shunt protectors adjacent to appliances are not effective. Wire impedance is large due to distance. Wire impedance is increased when we include splices, sharp bends, and other complications. If that Wavetracker were farther from electronics and substantially closer to single point earth ground, then the Wavetracker would have shunted to earth before transient got close to electronics. But again, the Wavetracker was so pathetically undersized as to be damaged by one transient anyway. A transient too small to overwhelm protection inside the adjacent electronics damaged a grossly undersized Wavetracker.

Yes, electronics has internal protection that includes transformer and other components. Why let that transient get near to electronics by placing a protector adjacent to electronics? A transient so large as to damage the Wavetracker was still too small to overwhelm protection inside the adjacent electronics. Internal appliance protection is that superior. And internal appliance protection is made even better when the protector is located close to earth ground.

First three of many reasons says the Wavetracker was not effective. One, induced surges. Two, too much wire impedance to earth ground thereby encouraging the transient to find destructive earthing paths via the adjacent electronics. And three, a Wavetracker so undersized as to be damaged by what was really a trivial transient? A transient so small that it did not also damage the adjacent electronics? What kind of protection is that? Ineffective.

Again, effective protector is located less than 3 meters to earth ground. A transient made so trivial by a properly located protector as to not overwhelm protection already inside electronics.

But now we have the most important fourth po> No matter what the load, the protection circuit would not have failed