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| Surge suppression |
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| message from McSpreader on 29 Jun 2005 |
A customer suffers failure of broadband connection after a
thunderstorm. Diagnosis shows that the ADSL modem (or ADSL
modem/router) has failed - presumably due to a surge pulse on the
phone line. After replacing the faulty device, customer usually asks
"What do I need to avoid a recurrence?"
The more readily available and affordable potential solutions appear
to be surge protected power socket strips with surge suppression for
phone lines built-in. Yet there are plenty of references that suggest
these are often ineffective.
To be clear: I am talking about a typical UK domestic environment,
and a lightning strike in the locality. i.e. not premises out in the
wilds, and not a direct strike/very near miss.
Can anyone point me to authoritative info on what works? A
benchmarking site would be ideal.
BTW: w_tom should not respond.
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| dave stanton replied to McSpreader on 29 Jun 2005 |
In a large thread which ran a few years ago on a ng, most of the guys from
the USA said that any sort of lightening suppresion device is a waste of
money. They should know considering the sort and frequency of electrical
storms they get over there.
HTH
Dave
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| Nigel Molesworth replied to dave stanton on 29 Jun 2005 |
Were they all called W*nker Tom by any chance?
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| Ian Stirling replied to dave stanton on 29 Jun 2005 |
Then again, maybe they've just got better paint.
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| Bob Eager replied to Ian Stirling on 29 Jun 2005 |
I was going to say that it's easy if the suppression is required indoors
- draw the curtains and avoid using bright lights.
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| Nigel Molesworth replied to McSpreader on 29 Jun 2005 |
Get one that offers compensation for damage. But anything is better
than nothing, weigh up the cost of a new router against the price.
FWIW, 3Com replaced my router that was similarly affected.
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| Peter Crosland replied to McSpreader on 29 Jun 2005 |
The reason the protection devices are often ineffective is that the device
can fail anyway because the strength of the of the pulse can just overwhelm
it. As well as the current through the incoming line large currents can be
induced directly inside the modem. The bottom line (No pun intended!) is
that unplugging everything during a storm wll give some protection but even
that is not a 100% solution.
Peter Crosland
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| Ian Stirling replied to Peter Crosland on 29 Jun 2005 |
Actually, it pretty much is. If you unplug the cables, you pretty much
need a strike within a meter or two of the equipment to kill it.
Detecting ongoing storms is of course fun.
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| Richard Sobey replied to McSpreader on 29 Jun 2005 |
Pass on that score. I've got an APC personal UPS device which provides
surge protection built in, and am running my important (router,
server, 15" TFT) off it. My reasoning is that if that doesn't stop
something, nothing I can afford will. I only really wanted battery
backup anyway.
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Archived message: Surge suppression (Broadband - Wireless, ISP, Modems etc.)
