Why is installation important?

    A surge suppressor/arrester is essentially a safety device.  Determining where they are best applied and how they are connected to your electrical system is critical to achieving the best effect.

    For example, lead-length alone has a profound effect on your installation.  As a rule of thumb you could assume that lead length increases will add between 15 to 25 volts PER INCH of wiring.  This means that an extra SIX inches of wiring will add between 90 and 159 Volts to the clamping voltage performance of the surge protective device.  Further, the increased impedance of the installation will adversely affect response time.

 

Why is power quality getting worse in my area?

    With few exceptions, it's most likely that the quality of power supplied by your Utility isn't getting worse...it's that your own facility's equipment is more susceptible.  Consider conditions 20 years ago....how many AC motor drives, microprocessor controlled robots, and multi-giga-hertz speed personal computers were installed in your facility?

    The more sophisticated, the faster and smaller our control equipment gets...the more sensitive it becomes.  Another factor that increases a facility's exposure to power upset is our inclination to network everything together with conductive interface standards.

    There are some areas where utilities have been experiencing grid problems due to weather related issues, but for the most part, Utilities within the United States and Canada are maintaining their delivery standards.

 

Why install Stedi-Power Surge Suppressors at the main panel?  Is this the only place installation is recommended?

    The main panel is your first entry point to your facility and it through this "portal" that the most immediately and damaging transient events enter...lightning and utility capacitor switching.

    Installing on every panel in the facility produces multiple benefits:

1. It allows us multiple opportunities to protect your equipment from high-voltage/current transients entering your facility through a "cascade" effect.  If one unit fails to divert a transient because of, for example, a catastrophic failure related to a lightning strike, another unit can handle the load.
2. It increases our ability to handle what are known as "micro-outages".  These are outages which most people, and equipment, do not normally notice...but affect microprocessor controlled equipment.  Installation at multiple locations increases the amount of "ride-through" we are able to provide as a result of the small amount of capacitance built into our equipment.
3. It serves to "isolate" all of your equipment and stop them from "contaminating each other" with high frequency transients which travel almost unimpeded otherwise on your electrical system.

 

Why is Stedi-Power called a Surge Suppressor/Arrester"?

    We qualify under both standards in testing by a nationally recognized, independent laboratory...Underwriter's Laboratories (UL). 

 

What is the difference between a Surge Suppressor and a Surge Arrester?

     This is related to how the system reacts to lightning.  A surge arrester has to be able to handle repeated strikes.  For this reason, qualification as a surge arrester, in many ways, is harder than qualification as a surge suppressor.  A surge suppressor, though, needs to react at relatively precise voltages, unlike a surge suppressor.

     It is for this reason that it's "big deal" that Stedi-Power products can qualify as both surge arresters and surge suppressors.  In one important aspect, though, we act DIFFERENTLY from a standard Surge Arrester:

     Normally, a Surge Arrester is best described as a surge diverter.  When voltage reaches the point where it "reacts" it diverts the voltage to ground.  The problem with this is that it produces a voltage drop, and sometimes, the voltage will go to ZERO volts inside the facility when it's operating. 

     In that respect, Stedi-Power is different from a typical surge arrester.   Stedi-Power does not drop your facility's voltage to zero...it clamps voltage to its clamping level.

     We have been told by many of our customers that they had experienced a lightning strike and had been completely unaware of it until after the fact.

 

Why should I do anything special?  I've been fine up to now...

      It's probable that you have a computer you use for your home or your business.  It 's also probable that you've spent between 5% and 20% of the cost of your PC for a plug-in type surge suppressor.

    What do you do for the rest of your equipment...the equipment that your business depends upon for income?

    We know that virtually every piece of production equipment made does practically nothing to protect their device from voltage fluctuations within your electrical system and in fact, most manufacturers actually exclude these events from your warranty.

    Most of the damage that is being done to your equipment at this moment   is cumulative in nature.  You don't see the results immediately and it's very likely that you are currently experiencing problems that are being caused by transient activity that you have been unable to diagnose.

    Finally...DO YOU OPERATE WITHOUT INSURANCE?  Insurance pays when damage is actually done and most likely will not fully compensate you for lost business.  It also won't compensate you for the loss of confidence your customers.

 

Stedi-Power, Inc
5044 B U Bowman Drive #102
Buford, Georgia 30518
PHONE: (678) 546-6780

Last Updated: 07 Jun 2004
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