Please reccomend a lightning protection unit.

Mars

Mars

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I got home today to find that my adsl is on 4mg! WOOT!

Man! its so good to be flying again!.

So anyways.. I live on top of Fishers Hill. One of the reasons I was keen on neotel in the beginning was because Lightning pops about 3 routers a year for me :( if I'm lucky. Unlucky includes the ethernet ports on the mobo's of my pc's.
I bought a ups. It worked like a charm, once. The lightning popped that too.
So I'm looking for a lightning/surge protector that can work more than once, specifically for my phone line.
Maybe something with a fuse?
 
ushir said:
Get the ellies ones. They have proven themselves and they come with a guarantee that if anything connected to that surge protector gets struck by lightning they will pay for all of it up to R20,000 (i think).
Click to expand...

Do they work more than once?
I think they only pay the excess up to 20,000.

What about making something? A couple of wall jacks with a fuse holder in between? Then I just have to change the fuses..

Do you think its possible?
 
Why not buy an ups? (Uninterrupted power supply). It will carry your pc during a power cut, long enough to give you a chance to shut down your pc.
Puts out "clean power" to your psu. All the spikes or dips that occurs on your electrical lines are smoothed out as it enters the ups and a steady clean enters your psu. Your pc components just loves this.
You can connect up to 2 PC's on the smaller ups's. I have connected a multi plug to the one ups outlet and my router and switch are connected to it. There is also an option to run your telephone lines through it.
It also has lightning protection.
 
A cheap workaround, I've heard, was to make a knot in your telephone cable, perhaps several. Supposedly the surge would not be able to pass this and would just burn the cable off, instead of your hardware. How true this is I do not know, nor would I put my trust in this but many people use it as protection on protection when they have surge protectors.

I'm not big on electronics but I don't think your everyday fuses work that well for that purpose; the surge protectors I've seen used caps to burn out on the surge. Again, I might be wrong.
 
Guys, guys please... fuses and knots will definitely not work. :D

The Ellies High Level surge protection is the better deal.

4 Stage surge protection - 3 MOV’s & 1 gas arrestors(Neon) Absorbs up to 20 000 Amps on live, neutral and earth; Thermal disconnect fuse; Clamping voltage 300 Volts
Click to expand...

http://www.ellies.co.za/index.php?id=63
http://www.ellies.co.za/index.php?id=420
http://www.ellies.co.za/index.php?id=403

Also proper earthing that is REQUIRED and actually removes the spike to ground (earth) must be good and insured. So the best is to make sure wherever these devices are installed that the earthing is good. Even if you have to add your own additional earth wire to a copper rod in ground like your TV antenna rod.


Also instead of the "knots" a 5meter telephone wire coiled about a 1/2 meter diameter between the surge protector and modem would help as the spike would be delayed by the coil and give the surge protector a change to work better. But again the surge protector needs proper grounding to direct that surge toward ground else its function is NULL an VOID. No the earth pin in the plug is not an ideal earth conductor as it is not guaranteed.

About the UPS. Please note the cheaper UPS for PC's is useless as a protection device. It remains on the incoming and switches over when a power interruption occurs. You need a "Online UPS". It will be a beter bet.

Double-conversion / online
Typical protection time:
5 – 30 minutes
Capacity expansion:
Several hours

The Online UPS is ideal for environments where electrical isolation is necessary or for equipment that is very sensitive to power fluctuations. Although once previously reserved for very large installations of 10kW or more, advances in technology have permitted it to now be available as a common consumer device, supplying 500 watts or less. The Online UPS is generally more expensive but may be necessary when the power environment is "noisy" such as in industrial settings, for larger equipment loads like data centers, or when operation from an extended-run backup generator is necessary.

The basic technology of the online UPS is the same as in a Standby or Line-Interactive UPS. However it typically costs much more, due to it having a much greater current AC-to-DC battery-charger/rectifier, and with the rectifier and inverter designed to run continuously with improved cooling systems. It is called a Double-Conversion UPS due to the rectifier directly driving the inverter, even when powered from normal AC current.

In an Online UPS, the batteries are always connected to the inverter, so that no power transfer switches are necessary. When power loss occurs, the rectifier simply drops out of the circuit and the batteries keep the power steady and unchanged. When power is restored, the rectifier resumes carrying most of the load and begins charging the batteries, though the charging current may be limited to prevent the high-power rectifier from overheating the batteries and boiling off the electrolyte.

The main advantage to the on-line UPS is its ability to provide an electrical firewall between the incoming utility power and sensitive electronic equipment. While the Standby and Line-Interactive UPS merely filter the input utility power, the Double-Conversion UPS provides a layer of insulation from power quality problems. It allows control of output voltage and frequency regardless of input voltage and frequency.
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks for the info!

I have ups's (The media server is on an "online" one).

I think I need a http://www.ellies.co.za/index.php?id=403.
I don't mind spending a grand or so on it, but I don't want to have to buy 3 or 4 every summer. Does it just blow and die when there is a strike/surge?
 
Madman88 said:
Thanks for the info!

I have ups's (The media server is on an "online" one).

I think I need a http://www.ellies.co.za/index.php?id=403.
I don't mind spending a grand or so on it, but I don't want to have to buy 3 or 4 every summer. Does it just blow and die when there is a strike/surge?
Click to expand...

Yeah it will die doing its job, that's what it is designed to do, but are usually repairable by any electronics hobbyist!
Speak to Ellie's direct to be sure. Also contact space TV JHB they could advise you. Also remember that device is just the telephone line, You need protection on the power source too!
Again look at your earth! Very NB!
 
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I am Penguin said:
Yeah it will die doing its job, that's what it is designed to do, but are usually repairable by any electronics hobbyist!
Speak to Ellie's direct to be sure. Also contact space TV JHB they could advise you. Also remember that device is just the telephone line, You need protection on the power source too!
Again look at your earth! Very NB!
Click to expand...

The earth on the power is fine, I've had it tested. (and fixed)

I always get hit via the phone line. Always. Last year I went through probably about 6 routers. I bought two and just kept swapping them out under warranty with sahara. :D Thats not counting the surge protector and the phone port on my online ups that where blown.

They stopped swapping them when the warranty ran out. Last time I looked they don't stock them anymore.

Spending a grand on a surge protector is not much different to spending a grand on a new router every time.
I have emailed ellies to make sure about that protector tho.
 
I have two copper rods. One under the aerial and one on the other side of the house (I think the areal used to be there). The earthing to the reticulation was the one that was repaired (or just wired properly). I was told that it was all over the place, and that apparently is bad.
 
I have the exact same problem as Madman88. I live on the West Rand on a hill in Helderkruin, and lightning hits around us as if we're some kind of lightning-magnet. If I don't unplug my routers, I'll lose over 10 per year easily. I'm now testing a Clearline phone line earth-based overvolt-bypass surge protector. My earthing is pretty good I believe - let's see how the device handles :] Madman88 I was also looking at that Ellies Lightning Barrier... but couldnt find a price, or anywhere to buy it - if you can get hold of it, please share where you bought it and how much you paid for it =)
 
Here is what I will do,
Where the telephone line enters the house, Apply a screen around the telephone wire from the housewall about 1 meter long around the telephone wire towards telkom pole. you could use aluminum foil wrap around and then insulation tape. At one end near house wall, turn wire [decent multistrand] around foil and down to good earth spike. For nice earth, dig a hole bury earth wire inside and to top, re-apply soil, then plant flowers above [ make the earth wet ].
This will be a good earth.
You can also lay a earth wire from computer towards this earth spike.
 
You can also buy mows or gas arrestors [50volt]. wire them between a and b wire and to earth.
Just test the mows on adsl, that it does not make a high loss filter.

If you want to buy, their is also clearline products.
 
fragtion_ said:
Madman88 I was also looking at that Ellies Lightning Barrier... but couldnt find a price, or anywhere to buy it - if you can get hold of it, please share where you bought it and how much you paid for it =)
Click to expand...
I too have been looking at it ... found some at Builders Warehouse Fourways. Cant remember the price ... think R500-400.

Seems quite a good idea, if it is a true optical isolator (i.e. the ports are not electrically connected) then lightning will not want to go through it. It will be a dead-end (nowhere to earth), like being unplugged.

Reason why I hesitated in buying was cause I wasnt sure it would interfere with the ADSL signal i.e. degrade attenuation & SNR (mine are pretty marginal)?
 
Madman88 said:
I have two copper rods. One under the aerial and one on the other side of the house (I think the areal used to be there). The earthing to the reticulation was the one that was repaired (or just wired properly). I was told that it was all over the place, and that apparently is bad.
Click to expand...

Get a decent power (220VAC) protector as advised and/or the separate phone line surge protector. Make sure the EARTH wire from this supply source protection unit AND pHONE SURGE PROTECTION UNIT runs with a suitable copper wire (Thick) to the earth peg outside. Make sure the earth peg has proper clean connections. Take an extra length of +-10 meters telephone extension cable and make a 0.5 meter diameter coil (tie with tape or many cable ties) with one end a flying lead. Plug this into the Ellies telephone surge protector box with flying lead into modem side. The science theory is the coil will delay the fast spike due to inductance and give time for the surge protector to work properly.
 
Robertvv said:
You can also buy mows or gas arrestors [50volt]. wire them between a and b wire and to earth.
Just test the mows on adsl, that it does not make a high loss filter.

If you want to buy, their is also clearline products.
Click to expand...

MOV's :D
 
Are you sure you want to use 50V MOV's on a phone line? Ringing voltage is above that!
 
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