The only Belkin that failed in this thread was from crossed power lines. It was not a surge, and neither service panel or plug-in suppressors are designed to protect from the much longer duration events caused by crossed power lines.
Service panel suppressors are a real good idea. But from the NIST guide: "Q - Will a surge protector installed at the service entrance be sufficient for the whole house? A - There are two answers to than question: Yes for one-link appliances [electronic equipment], No for two-link appliances [equipment connected to power AND phone or cable or....]. Since most homes today have some kind of two-link appliances, the prudent answer to the question would be NO - but that does not mean that a surge protector installed at the service entrance is useless."
Service panel suppressors do not prevent high voltages from developing between power and signal wires. To limit the voltage you need a *short* wire connecting the cable/phone entrance protectors to the ground at the power service.
(And as someone pointed out, a near lightning strike can then induce voltages with interior house wiring acting as an antenna.)
Much of the equipment damaged has power plus phone/cable connections, and is likely damaged by high voltage between power and signal wires.
Martzloff (NIST surge expert) has a paper (probably what w refers to) that has a 100,000A lightning strike to a utility pole behind a house with typical urban overhead distribution. The calculated average probability of a worse event is once in 8,000 years. There are multiple paths to earth so 'only' 40,000A is directed to the house on the service neutral. Service neutrals in the US are connected to ground at the service panel and connected to the earthing electrode(s) dissipating that energy. Some of the energy is transferred to the hot wires and the max probable surge current per wire is 10,000A (also in the IEEE guide pdf page 27).
Incidentally, at about 6,000V from hot bus to enclosure (ground) there is arc-over. After the arc is established the voltage is hundreds of volts. If there is no service panel suppressor this is what dissipates most of the energy on the hot wires. It is one of the reasons so little energy is dissipated in MOVs in plug-in suppressors.
Repeating traders response to w's repeated drivel - the "real world protection" all these manufacturers (except SquareD) sell includes plug-in suppressors. And the $50 devices do not meet w's minimum specs.
For its best service panel suppressor SquareD says "electronic equipment may need additional protection by installing plug-in [suppressors] at the point of use", and the connected equipment warranty is double when "used in conjunction with ... a point of use surge protective device."
If poor w could only read and think he could discover what the IEEE guide says in this example:
- A plug-in suppressor protects the TV connected to it.
- "To protect TV2, a second multiport protector located at TV2 is required."
- In the example a surge comes in on a cable service with the ground wire from cable entry ground block to the ground at the power service that is far too long (as in my last post). In that case the IEEE guide says "the only effective way of protecting the equipment is to use a multiport [plug-in] protector."
- w's favored power service suppressor would provide absolutely NO protection.
It is simply a lie that the plug-in suppressor in the IEEE example damages the second TV.
Lacking any source that supports his drivel w tries to twist an example in the IEEE guide that shows how plug-in suppressors provide protection.
Neither plug-in or service panel suppressors will reliably protect from crossed power lines. This is idiocy.
Provide a spec from any manufacturer that claims such protection.
Martzloff has written "the impedance of the grounding system to `true earth' is far less important than the integrity of the bonding of the various parts of the grounding system." That is - short ground wires from the telephone and cable entry protectors (and dish...) to the ground at the power service.
Complete nonsense.
w's religious mantras protects him from disturbing thoughts (aka reality). Still not explained - why aren't airplanes crashing daily when they get hit by lightning (or do they drag an earthing chain)?
Everyone is in favor of earthing. The IEEE guide explains, for anyone who can think, that plug-in suppressors do not work primarily by earthing and that earthing occurs elsewhere.
For real science read the IEEE and NIST guides - links provided . Both say plug-in suppressors are effective.
There are 98,615,938 other web sites, including 13,843,032 by lunatics, and w can't find another lunatic that says plug-in suppressors are NOT effective. All you have are w's opinions based on his religious belief in earthing.
Still never answered - simple questions:
- Why do the only 2 examples of protection in the IEEE guide use plug-in suppressors?
- Why does the NIST guide says plug-in suppressors are "the easiest solution"?
- Why does the NIST guide say "One effective solution is to have the consumer install" a multiport plug-in suppressor?
- How would a service panel suppressor provide any protection in the IEEE example, pdf page 42?
- Why does the IEEE guide say for distant service points "the only effective way of protecting the equipment is to use a multiport [plug-in] protector"?
- Why do your favorite manufacturers make plug-in suppressors?
- Why does favorite manufacturer SquareD say (for their service panel suppressor) "electronic equipment may need additional protection by installing plug-in [suppressors] at the point of use"?