The Surge & Power Solutions Blog

South Africa has been through a trying time of late with
regards to power cuts, load shedding, blackouts, etc. In
fact you can call it what ever you want, it still comes
down to the same thing, no one in this great dark
continent has reliable power, and the problem is we need
electricity to keep our economy afloat. Frequent power cuts
equals loss of business, loss of business equals loss of revenue,
and that spells trouble, trouble for everyone except for cardboard
manufactures as it will be a commodity in demand, as we will all
be out on the street trying to make a living.
In all honesty, no one ever
expected it to get that bad, but
power cuts are a problem, but not
just power cuts, also voltage
spikes and surges, we all know the
feeling when the rains come, and
we run to unplug the TV, but what
if you aren’t home, what if you are
away on holiday, what then?
Wattronics has
been in the surge and power game
for many years, we are situated in
this country for testing purposes, I
mean what better place to test
your knowledge, and equipment,
in one of the highest lightning
dense areas in the world, and a
place where the power is more off
than on.

And test we did, and through all of our testing and learning Wattronics has developed one of themost in-depth product catalogues in the world. We are world renowned for our doublecascade filtration and our state of the art UPS and generator systems, and the learning neverstops, and neither will our product research .At Wattronics we strive to ensure that our products areof the highest quality and functionality. No matter what the application, Wattronics will always bethere to protect your investments

On a listed surge protector, you should find a couple of ratings. Look for:

Clamping voltage – This tells you what voltage will cause the MOVs to conduct electricity to the ground line. A lower clamping voltage indicates better protection. There are three levels of protection in the UL rating — 330 V, 400 V and 500 V. Generally, a clamping voltage more than 400 V is too high.

Energy absorption/dissipation – This rating, given in joules, tells you how much energy the surge protector can absorb before it fails. A higher number indicates greater protection. Look for a protector that is at least rated at 200 to 400 joules. For better protection, look for a rating of 600 joules or more.

Response time – Surge protectors don’t kick in immediately; there is a very slight delay as they respond to the power surge. A longer response time tells you that your computer (or other equipment) will be exposed to the surge for a greater amount of time. Look for a surge protector that responds in less than one nanosecond.

You should also look for a protector with an indicator light that tells you if the protection components are functioning. All MOVs will burn out after repeated power surges, but the protector will still function as a power strip. Without an indicator light, you have no way of knowing if your protector is still functioning properly.

ANSWER:
Ask a loaded question, get a loaded answer

We need surge protectors to keep all the little circuits inside our computers safe from excess voltage peaks. When these power peaks (surges / spikes) occur, it causes the electrical circuit to heat up—kind of like the filament in a light bulb. Although a big surge can cause the circuit to blow on the spot, lesser surges can peck away at it, eventually causing it to fail.

Sometimes these failures are intermittent, causing your computer to do strange and unexpected things. You know, odd lockups, sudden reboots after it warms up, conjuring up lost spirits—that sort of thing.

Most of the time these oddities are not predictable (since they’re intermittent and all), and show no type of pattern. That said, if your computer is acting weird, it’s not automatically a damaged circuit—don’t underestimate Microsoft’s ability to make strange things happen in Windows.

Now, a lot of people think that most of the problems come from thunderstorms—you know, when lightening zaps a power line. Although a good hit can certainly ruin your computer’s day, there are other more common sources of surges you need to be aware of.

Most of these sources are high powered appliances—refrigerators, air conditioners, furnaces, even hair dryers and vacuums. In addition to appliances, those big power transformers you see hanging off electrical poles can cause problems—especially on hot days when the local air conditioning is giving them a workout.

Any one of the above can cause a disruption in the power flow of your house, creating a surge. It may not be as dramatic as lightening, but can cause damage over time.

A play on words?

Some companies are fudging their specs to confuse customers, we have noticed this problem mainly in the UPS and inverter fields for example, some companies are throwing the term IN-LINE around in reference to an ON-LINE UPS systems, but on inspection of the UPS systems you will notice it is a line interactive unit, clever marketing !!

Sales swindle or plain fraud, you decide!

We have listed the main UPS topologies here for your reference

Online double conversion

• • Total protection
• • Suitable for generator power
• • Considered up-market
• • Used for sophisticated equipment and servers

Line interactive

• • Limited protection offered by internal AVR
• • Not suitable for generators
• • Used for basic back-up for PC,s and control equipment

Ferro resonant UPS systems (Not recommended)

• • Out dated UPS topology
• • Low efficiency
• • Gives off lots of heat.

We recommend that before you purchase a UPS that you check to make sure that you are getting the correct equipment for the job you require, and remember you get what you pay for, so take time in making a decision.

“Lightning never strikes twice in one place” is a statement totally devoid of fact. It can and
often does time and again!
The days of valve HiFi sets and TV are something of the past. These dinosaurs used to
stand up to surges caused by nearby lightning strikes. The modern miniaturised equipment,
full of integrated circuits, is far more sensitive and even if it survives a few mains surges, the
accumulated damaged will soon destroy the equipment.
Effective protection against lightning and surges requires a total approach. While some
systems demand special treatment and consideration, there is no shortcut to when it comes
to ensuring immunity to strikes and induced surges.
Most modern houses do not have lightning
arresters fitted to the mains board. At Wattronics we
think that it is a big mistake and recommend that
every household has surge protector fitted on
the main board. It will take care of the general
electrical equipment in the house.
Wattronics has an advanced range of class II surge
arrestors. Manufactured at the state-of-the-art
facilities, the new range carries the SABS mark .
This is the first range designed and
manufactured to international standards with the 
harsh lightning conditions prevalent in South
Africa in mind. The new range includes single
pole, double pole, three phase and spark gap
based arrestors. Talk to your electrician and
make sure he fits only the best and not some
cheap substitute.

For many, these two words can cause us to
quiver with panic, if not just pass right out, but not because
of the lightning, and its brilliant light display of thousands of
volts streaming across the night sky, or the seemingly
endless amounts of rain, that they announce with a great roar of
authority is on the way, but because of the high price some
lightning and surge protection companies force you to pay, to
protect your equipment.
But fear not humans, Wattronics has come to your aid. We have
launched THE range of lightning protection and surge suppression
equipment, to save you, our fellow human beings, from another enemy, equally as dangerous – “high prices”
Everybody loves the rain, and watching lightning flash in the night
sky, but for some its like the starters gun in a race, where you have
to run around the house switching off all your electronic
equipment.
This year plan ahead by using the world renowned Wattronics “Surge King” – the only surge protected multi-plug fitted with 100% isolation protection. Running around switching of your electrical equipment is now a thing of the past!

While the fitting of surge protectors on a main supply board is no longer obligatory,
Wattronics (Pty) Ltd recommends that for peace of mind and
protection of sophisticated electronic equipment used in both home and office
that proper surge protections is fitted on both the live and neutral connection
entering the mains board.

International specification (IEC 60664-1) to which most of today’s equipment will
comply specifies the maximum differential mode surge that the equipment
should be able to withstand without damage is 1500 Volt. A surge or a spike is a
transient voltage that last for only a split second.
There are two types of protectors fitted. On the live a metal oxide varistor
(MOV) unit is recommended and for the neutral a spark gap or as it is also referred
to an N-PE type. The value in fitting both is in the way they are configured
to ensure that surges over 1500V are bled off to earth and don’t travel
around the indoor wiring.
In the past it was common to fit the MOV type protectors between line and earth
and neutral and earth.

The Surge Essential™ is a front line device in the current climate of load shedding and also protects equipment against normal surge damage, 3 phase neutral problems, lightning strikes and noisy power supplies. The Surge Essenial gives 100% switch on surge protection and auto resets to give you complete peace of mind.

R229. 00 / unit

The confusion is unique to the small (under 1000 VA) UPS market due to the fact
that all UPS systems above this power level (from 1kVA to 500kVA) are rated in V-A
rather than Watts. The use of the Watt rating for small UPS systems appears to
stem from the simple marketing fact that the typical small UPS user is much
more familiar with the concept of the Watt rating.

Nevertheless, the V-A rating system is better for matching the load to the UPS. This is true because the fundamental factor that limits the output capacity of a UPS is its output CURRENT capability, which is more closely related to the        V-A rating than the Watt rating.

THE WATTRONICS FILTER-CORD COMBINES BOTH SURGE/TRANSIENT SUPPRESSION AND EMI/RFI FILTRATION. FOR BEST RESULTS AGAINST CROSS OVER INTERFERENCE FROM YOUR OTHER APPLIANCES AS WELL AS HIGH VOLTAGE SURGES, THE FILTER-CORD SHOULD BE ATTACHED TO ONE OF THE WATTRONICS SURGE KING SOCKETS AND THEN RELAYED TO YOUR INDIVIDUAL APPLIANCE.

THIS COMPACT AND INEXPENSIVE CORD HAS FULL SUPPRESSION ON ALL CONDUCTORS AND INCORPORATES POWERFUL FILTRATION CIRCUITRY. STANDARD CORD LENGTH ON EACH SIDE OF THE FILTRATION BOX IS 75CM.