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Table of Contents

1. How do Spikes & Surges get on Power, Phone & Signal Lines?
2. What are common effects of Spikes & Surges on various types of equipment?
3. What can be done to Protect equipment, data & systems from Spikes & Surges?

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How do Spikes & Surges get on Power, Phone & Signal Lines

Lightning is the most common cause of Spikes and Surges on Power, Phone & Signal Lines.  While most common and most severe in summer, Lightning has been observed during snow storms.

Surges, transients and spikes caused by lightning spread throughout the Power company network, affecting equipment over  large areas.  You could be in a clear, sunny environment - yet a storm miles away could induce high energy spikes / transients / surges to cause you grief.

Contrary to popular belief, lightning does not need to strike a power, phone  or  monitor  line to cause extremely high voltage spikes, transients and surges. Lightning between clouds can set up a significant magnetic fields which may induce surges - causing significant damage.

Power and Phone lines are out of our control, so we have to accept what Mother Nature serves up. Network, Data, Control, Monitor and Signal lines should be kept as short and direct as possible. Lines as short as 20 feet have picked up significant spike voltage from lightning. Short signal, monitor or data lines in close proximity to power cabling (such as a raceway, conduit or interior wall) have often had equipment damage or disruption from induced spikes, transients and surges.

The second most common cause of Power, Phone & Signal Line Spikes and Surges is the electrical system operated by your friendly utility company.

Severe surges can be generated at your local power company switching station.   These large, severe spikes and surges affect equipment many miles distant from the station.

Power lines also pick up transient spikes from connected electrical machinery, appliances and power company operating equipment. Even common household items such as air conditioners and furnaces have been found to generate 1,000 Volt spikes. Power Line caused spikes occur year round, but generally are more severe in Winter.

Phone lines are often placed in parallel, and quite close, to Power lines. Spikes / Surges existing on Power Lines are very easily coupled into Phone lines.

Spikes & surges of moderate to severe intensity (1,000 to 5,000 Volts) have been observed in all locales on earth every month of the year.

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What are common effects
of Spikes & Surges on various types of equipment?

Equipment damage is the most serious and noticeable effect of spikes & surges. Damage may range from moderate to severe. Immediate consequences depend on value of equipment damaged and the value placed upon that equipment being in continuous service.

Spikes & surges (especially from Lightning) may enter equipment over Power, Phone, Control or Monitor lines at the same time. At other times, Power Line spikes may cause failure of some equipment, while leaving companion devices undamaged.

Unnoticed is the long term performance deterioration spikes & surges cause in equipment. Each time severe spikes or surges enter equipment, some delicate components may suffer slight degradation. Over time, this cumulative degradation takes its toll, leaving equipment performing in a sub-standard manner - eventually leading to system failure.

In some instances, spikes & surges may find their way into critical operating circuitry. Computer digital circuits may receive false data, causing errors and disruptions. Audio digital circuitry may generate disturbing sound bursts or unit commands. Alarms, security monitors, business machines, scanners or other gear may exhibit erratic, hard to identify behavior.

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What can be done
to Protect equipment, data & systems from Spikes & Surges?

Installation of High Performance Spike/Surge protection equipment is the best defensive action to prevent equipment damage, data loss or system down time.

This question will be addressed in 3 parts:
A. AC Power Protection
B. Modem & Phone Line Protection
C. Network, Data and Signal Line Protection

A. AC Power Protection
There are countless AC Power "surge" or "spike" suppressers on the market. Some are little more than extension cords. Look for units that provide at least 50,000 Surge Amp suppression capability. Many cheaper units provide only 4,500 or 6,500 Surge Amp suppression. (Units with low protection generally don't indicate Protection Levels on the label - Even some medium protection levels do not indicate surge absorption abilities) Naturally, the higher the Surge Amp capability, the more protection is afforded to your equipment. Electronic Specialists suppressers all have 58,500 (or more) Surge Amp suppression. See the AC Power Protection and Isolator pages.

For Industrial applications, we manufacture Twist*Protect^TM models for twist locked electrical connectors and Wire-In power line filter-suppressors with 4 connector options.

An Extreme Duty wire-in suppression system is offered for industrial equipments subjected to extreme damaging power line spikes and surges. These models are also very effective at reducing high voltage spikes, transients or surges generated by heavy duty industrial equipment from getting back into the facility power system.

Electronic Specialists also offers Regulator-Isolator-Conditioners for total equipment protection. This unit has our high performance 58,500 Surge Amp suppresser followed by regulator transformer suppression. With a quality regulator such as this, equipment will operate deep into the Brown-Out zone. Regulator-Conditioners also will absorb the tremendous jolts delivered to Power Lines when AC Power is restored after an Outage

Isolation transformer systems are also offered by Electronic Specialists. These also have high performance input suppressers, and are usually employed for interference reduction. Isolators will be discussed in the FAQ Interference sections.

UPS units provide the ability to operate for 6-10 minutes after Power loss. They are primarily designed to aid in an orderly system shutdown. The largest number of UPS units installed (those having the lowest retail cost) connect equipment directly to the normal commercial AC Power Line except when electrical power is lost or during Brown-outs when an internal battery supplies energy to operate equipment for a brief time.

Spike/Surge suppression provided by these low cost UPS units is usually under 20,000 Surge Amps. Secondary protection is advisable. Check out other information regarding UPS Brown-Out Zone operation and problems encountered by UPS operation under Brown-Out Conditions.

Check out additional information on Electronic Specialists AC Power Protection products Regulators <> Isolators <> AC Power Protection

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B. Modem and Phone Line Protection
Modems,security monitors and other Phone line connected equipment are also extremely prone to damage and disruption due to spikes and surges caused by either lightning or power line disturbances. Phone lines are commonly placed on the same utility poles across the country, so natural and manmade spikes/surges are given great opportunity to enter phone systems, causing damage or interference to modems or other phone connected equipment. In severe cases, spikes and surges entering a modem may travel through the modem, entering the connected equipment, causing extensive damage.

Monetary loss due to modem damage is often more closely tied to operational time lost due to purchase and replacement of the damaged modem. Installation of a protective device is much more cost effective than having the modem (and possibly other system components) repaired or replaced.

Fax machines, answering devices, phone line control and monitoring apparatus all are subject to spike/surge damage entering via phone lines.

Protection devices should be positioned as close as possible to equipment being protected.

Additional information on Electronic Specialists Modem and Phone Protection

Multiple protective devices for modems and phone lines have been designed for installation ease.

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C. Network, Data and Signal Line Protection
In addition to our comprehensive list of Power, Modem and Phone Line protection, Electronic Specialists offers an extensive line of Network, Data Line, Security and Signal protective designs. The same design care and quality is built into everyone of these products.

Network and Data information is connected to electronic equipment through a number of different style connectors. Additionally, various systems use different pins for the same connector. Also, different voltages are encountered in different applications.

When selecting Protection systems for installed Network, Data, Security or Signal equipment, consult the manufacturer to ascertain correct connector, correct pins and correct protection voltage.

There are some "universal" protection devices on the market. While in theory, this sounds great, usually the protection voltage level chosen is quite high so that all equipment can be connected without affecting the data or signal. Net effect is that a 3 or 5 Volt system may be protected with a 30 or 40 Volt Protector, leaving equipment exposed to undesirably high residual Spike Voltages. Premature equipment failure or erratic data / signal transmission could result.

Browse our Network - Data Protection pages, Security-Surveillance pages or our Signal Protection pages for a view of some the many protection devices that are available. As always, we stand ready to design special protection units for any non-standard equipment you may encounter. e-mail us to outline your network or signal protection requirements.

Multiple protectors for Network systems  or signal and video systems are available

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