basketCASE confuses fuses with transient protection.  Any fuse has a
voltage rating.  Why?  Fuses blow with excessive current - not
excessive voltage?  But if the fuse blows and resulting voltage is too
high, then the fuse (or circuit breaker) remains conductive.  That is
exactly what would happen if a fuse was used in transient protection.
The fuse would only keep conducting until a destructive transient
finishes damaging.

basketCASE also assumes NEC addresses transistor safety.  NEC is only
concerned with human safety.  NEC is concerned with what happens after
an appliance is damaged.
Effective protectors from Square D, GE, Siemens, Cutler-Hammer,
Leviton, or Intermatic are not about things that take forever -
milliseconds.  Effective protectors do not stop or block like fuses
would do - as basketCASE posts.  Effective protectors must shunt AND
do so thousands of times faster.

Tripplite, APC, and Belkin are good at what they claim to do.  Their
own specifications do not even claim protection that basketCASE has
only assumed.  Their subjective 'color glossy' brochures are written so
that the naive will 'assume' such protection.

Effective protectors do not monitor:
> for the change in flow and trip if the change is too great well ahead
> of the actually destructive current.

basketCASE is encouraged to read previous posts - to first learn
what protectors do rather than post myths encourages by ineffective
plug-in protector manufacturers.

Furthermore,  this quote describes an ineffective protector:
> cheap ones are built for mortality, in other words if they
> are subjected to any faults they protect by  destroying
> themselves.

And protectors that self destructs provided no protection.  It left
the appliance to protect itself.  Why grossly undersized?  Because the
naive will then claim a protector sacrificed itself to protect the
appliance.  In reality, a transient too small to overwhelm protection
inside the appliance also destroyed the grossly undersized protectors.
But this is so profitable.  The na=EFve will then claim the protector
- not the appliance - did the protection, buy more grossly
overpriced and undersized protectors, and then post those myths on the
web.

basketCASE has simply reposted myths encourages by plug-in protectors
to sell ineffective products.  He posts as if protectors work like
fuses.  He assumes milliseconds - which are forever long - are short
events.  He assumes protectors somehow stop or block transients.  He
assumes the NEC has codes that define effective protection.   He
assumes protectors protect by being suicidal.   All are wrong and all
are promoted on myths encouraged by ineffective and grossly overpriced
plug-in protector manufacturers.

One final point - basketCASE never once mentions earthing - which is
what plug-in protectors manufacturers (APC, Belkin, Tripplite) hope he
will do.   As even demonstrated by Ben Franklin in 1752 - the protector
will only be as effective as its earth ground.  Earthing - what
basketCASE had to not mention to promote those plug-in protector myths.


basketCASE wrote:
> To protect a home from lightning the manufacturers  (SQ D, GE, ITE,
> ect.) all work under the guidance of the NEC here in the US. The NEC
> Art #110-3B states that if the code book (NEC) doesn't exactly answer
> the question at hand that the manufactures instructions will be
> followed. Now in lightning suppression, the standard guidelines are
> you must clear the fault within 16 mSec (milliseconds) or 1/60 of a
> second. Ring any bells? AC in the US is 60 Hertz or sixty cycles every
> second. The fault curve is based on I squared T in other words square
> the current times the time it takes to open the circuit (clear the
> fault) and protect your washer, dryer, TV, ect. Lightning can product
> hundreds of thousands of amps! But for a very short period of time.
> That is why those things (SQ D, GE, ITE, ect) don't work for
> electronics, they are too slow.
>
> Now electronics, the rule of thumb is to clear the fault in 4 mSec.
> Why is this number significant? The AC hertz is dispersed on a Sine
> wave which starts at 0volts travels to its positive peak then to 0
> volts then to its negative peak then back to 0 volts - this is one
> cycle which takes 16 mSec to complete. 4mSec would be to the positive
> peak of the sine wave. So there you have it, to protect your
> electronics you must clear the fault (open the AC line) before the
> sine wave reaches its first peak on the AC from the time of the fault.
> This is also why there are so many fuse types to pick from. They are
> selected to clear the fault in specific time ranges.
>
> Tripplit, Belkin, Sola, ect... are good at what they do. Are you ready
> for it? They sense the flow of electrons and watch for the change in
> flow and trip if the change is too great well ahead of the actually
> destructive current. That hokie joules number is actually a IMPRESSED
> current number and not actually what the device will handle. These
> devices can work in the 1mSec range and that is why they give such a
> large protection value. They know they will work fast enough to
> protect.
>
> A funny sidebar, some of the cheap ones are built for mortality, in
> other words if they are subjected to any faults they protect by
> destroying themselves. NEVER use a device that you THINK MIGHT HAVE
> BEEN subjected to a fault (of any kind). If you read closely you'll
> see that exact statement in the instructions.

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