Surge protector woes

[dj1701]

I had a surge protector fry last month. I had it for years with no problems. I read that you should replace them every couple of years.

I did some research and found that Cyberpower was a pretty good brand. I replaced all of my strips and wall units with this brand. Since then I have fried one wall unit and two strip surge protectors. The strips have a breaker that is supposed to flip if you get a surge. They did not flip, they just burned.

I'm wondering if I got a knockoffs from Amazon. Any advice from my astute colleagues?

 

[John_Mc]

I'm wondering what you've got going on electrically at your house to fry so many surge protectors.

 

[grsthegreat]

Those are useless. Get a whole house surge suppressor. and add a good UPS device with surge suppression for desktop computer.

i use a siemens whole house that gives 140,000 amp protection. Not cheap, but thats the idea.

 

[California]

I'm wondering if I got a knockoffs from Amazon. Any advice from my astute colleagues?

Could be a cheap copy. I once received cheap HF-grade surge strips after ordering from a list of quality items acceptable for government purchase.

Today, one of the major complaints about Amazon is counterfeit goods.

But to blow up more than one, there has to be something going on with your wiring. Test to verify 120v at each outlet and with varying loads elsewhere in the house - washing machine running, etc. I've had damage like you have when the neutral overhead cable from the pole broke. That smoked a clock radio and my battery maintainer. One outlet tested far over 120v.

I like grs's solution.

 

[i7win7]

If you know how to use an AC voltmeter, check the voltage at several outlets. If readings fluctuate or exceed 125 volts, contact power co. to check incoming lines for loose connections.

Had a bad neutral connection once and lights would brighten and dim, fans change speed, ect as the loads on the hot legs changed. Power co's usually very responsive to these issues.

 

[jfsawatzky]

Was any item connected to these suppressors damaged? If it was me, and I did not loose any equipment other than the suppressor I’d consider myself lucky. It’s easy and simple to replace an inexpensive suppressor instead of the higher value items you want protected. I know they failed but better to sacrifice the suppressor than your tv/computer/cell… Now you need to figure out what contributed to the failure. Was it an only due to low quality suppressor or other factors as others have suggested. I like the idea of whole home protection but have not idea the cost.

 

[coldsteelva]

I think that you are misunderstanding the surge protection on these units. I believe the resettable circuit breaker button is only to protect if YOU overload the circuitry with too many amps through the strip. My understanding of the surge protection mechanism is what happened to them was supposed to happen, stray over current is absorbed by sacrificial components, they 'blow' and permanently kill the internal power circuits. One time protection.

Can anyone confirm?

I also agree with grsthegreat; get a panel or meter installed whole house surge protector to protect from utility power issues and lightning and then use the strip surge protectors for sensitive electronics when surges originating within your home can be arrested.

 

[John_Mc]

If you know how to use an AC voltmeter, check the voltage at several outlets. If readings fluctuate or exceed 125 volts, contact power co. to check incoming lines for loose connections.

Had a bad neutral connection once and lights would brighten and dim, fans change speed, ect as the loads on the hot legs changed. Power co's usually very responsive to these issues.

One thing I'll add to that: just because a problem doesn't show on the voltmeter, doesn't mean a problem doesn't exist. You might catch something, or the problem just might not be happening when you are checking, or the response time on your voltmeter could be too slow to pick up the surges or flickering.

The fact that you've had multiple surge protectors go over a relatively short period of time is an indication that you've got a problem, and probably a more serious one than just a faulty surge protector.

 

[mikester]

If it's a real CyberPower unit see what they say. I've been using and working with APC Schneider for decades now through work and I've never seen anything like that.

I've seen a lot of cheap chinese dangerous sub-standard items with "UL" and "CE" written on them, most likely the names of the towns they were made in.

Interesting video $700 Fluke multimeter vs Chinese knockoffs

 

[robstaples]

Coldsteelva is correct about the resettable button. That is overcurrent protection only.

The surge protection can be accomplished by many methods. Following article describes them.

An Introduction to Transient Voltage Suppressors (TVS) - Technical Articles

An intro to transients and the devices used to suppress them. Learn about the variety of devices used to suppress transients.

www.allaboutcircuits.com

The common method is the metal oxide varistor ( mov) which is designed to conduct at a voltage , like 350 volts. If a voltage spike comes down the line, the mov will conduct and short out the spike. Small spike ( voltage times time ( nano second for instant) ) the mov shorts out the wave and things continue. The mov absorbs the energy. If the wave is bigger than the mov’s capability, it melts , smokes, …. Is destroyed and no longer functional. There is quite often a led indicating its status.

The best place to protect your whole house is at the circuit panel closest to the meter and utility connection. If the surge wave comes down the utility line, the surge suppressor mounted there, shorts out the wave and it doesn’t progress pass that point. They have a joule rating ( power dissipation rating) and can handle only so much. If lightning strikes your back yard pole, it won’t stop the high voltage wave.

Dj1701 may have an internal house spike generator like a loose connection carrying significant current to generate a spark. Which can send a voltage spike in all directions ( all circuits in the house) Potential fire hazard as loose connection will generate heat. Test dryer, stove, water heater connections for tightness. If not familiar with electricity, call a professional .

 

[dj1701]

I was not home when it happened, but my girlfriend was. It was day with really high winds. She said the lights in the bedroom got really bright and she heard a pop. Thats when several breakers were tripped. The light bulbs in the bedroom were blown out.

If it was a big surge, why did it not smoke the other surge protector strips in the house?

Something is not right for sure.

 

[robstaples]

Hard to tell after the fact. Tripped breakers indicate high current and long duration as breakers trip on heat generated ( most common breakers) versus micro second impulse. Speculation, the ones that smoked could have been enough to suppress the wave or they aren’t functional, or something else. Sorry no help.

If this happens again, utilities have recording meters they can install and “ watch” the line for trouble.

 

[woody]

was the tripped breakers on the same buss bar or maybe every other breaker?

 

[LittleBill21]

yea, I use cyberpower for years. MOV's are what protect you from surges, not circuit breakers, that breaker is simply for amp pulling by devices. mov are sacrificial once they are gone that's it, you don't reset them, they burn up to protect the devices downstream. that's why there are lights on them, if the light goes out, that's actually bad, it means it did not stop the full surge, you should have one on your utility box as well, I have a large leviton one.

contrary to believe, a UPS does nothing more then a normal surge protector, all it does is switch over to battery due to flucatitions, it still has MOV's like a regular surge strip that can burn out.

You clearly have a power problem, I believe they did their job, I would be curious why the other ones are not burning out. BRIGHT lights is a real bad sign.

 

[zzvyb6]

Found out (lucky for me) that the voltage problem I found in the house & barn (separate pole transformers) was faulty neutral connections at the poles. One day my Kill-A-Watt registered 580 Volts at the 110 outlets. Root cause (according to DTE power company) was the addition of a new neighborhood down the road which required a primary voltage increase from 4600V to 7600. (don't ask me why the ratio is odd, no idea). The old neutral bus on my poles melted off. Not sure why the neutral would go, but it's also related to "old grounding rods that no longer serve their purpose".

I had an In-Wall surge protector which started to emit a burning smell. My FLIR camera 'saw' this: (good thing I was home. A Neighbor's home down the road burned to the ground. They saw the smoke rising from the expressway on the way home from work).

I would advise against using fixed installation surge protectors and park the extension cord versions on a fireproof surface. I'm using old slate shingles for this now. I still wonder how they handle a lightning strike. We no longer have close ones ever since I put up a few old farm windmills on the property (just for their looks).

 

[kenmbz]

A good whole house surge protector in a proper metal housing is what I have.
We get these power "events" when Ash trees fall on the wires.
Sometime lights go bright and then dim or flicker.
I only had to replace one surge protector so far.
Had a few GFI outlets and breakers trip during these events.

Voltage needs to be clamped, or you will keep burning the little surge protectors.

 

[check]

I had a whole house surge protector, and it saved my circuitry when lightning struck a pole about 200 feet away. It sacrificed itself, and I did have to get a new one, but that is how it works. Put the same surge protector in again.

Mind you, I didn’t do it right away like I should have, and we had several of those weird power outages where the power flashes on and off before finally going out. And then my garage door opener stopped working properly!

Bad James!

 

[cqaigy2]

Those are useless. Get a whole house surge suppressor. and add a good UPS device with surge suppression for desktop computer.

i use a siemens whole house that gives 140,000 amp protection. Not cheap, but thats the idea.View attachment 784150

How many "hits" can this take?

 

[grsthegreat]

If lights go super bright…..suspect dropped or loose neutral wires. Seen it so many times.

 

[cqaigy2]

I have not insight to what happened in the OPS instance.

My BIL and sister, had a house outside Enumclaw. They would get high winds that would whip the high tension power lines and sometimes they'd hit the lower voltage lines. That caused interesting issues in their home. Arcing that would start across the outlets then travel down to the floor. Some circuits stopped working altogether, blown up electronic/electric appliances.