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| Question: Why do I need a StrikeShield™ unit? |
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Answer: Household electrical power service is vulnerable to power surges and spikes that can damage equipment inside your home. StrikeShield products protect your equipment from these potential dangers. |
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| Question: Is this a solution for the whole house? |
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Answer: Yes, this solution provides excellent protection for AV installations and other sensitive equipment such as telephone, security and automation systems. At the same time, locating this protection at the service entry provides general protection to the entire household. |
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| Question: Where would you typically locate the StrikeShield unit? |
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Answer: The StrikeShield unit must be mounted at the house main service panel. The shorter the wires, the better the protection against nearby lightning strikes. |
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| Question: Must an electrician install the StrikeShield unit? |
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Answer: YES, the StrikeShield unit must be installed by a licensed electrician. It is designed to be a straightforward job and comes with easy to understand installation instructions. |
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| Question: Are “surges” and “spikes” the same thing? |
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Answer: They are similar - both are overvoltages that can damage sensitive equipment. We can just consider both to be examples of power system “transients”, which are potentially damaging temporary imperfections in the power supply.
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| Question: Where do power transients come from? |
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Answer: There are many possible sources for power system transients; some common sources include close by or distant lightning strikes, utility grid switching functions, and even transients generated by neighboring houses and businesses.
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| Question: Would I know if power transients were present? |
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Answer: Yes, normal split-single phase residential electric service is provided to the main panel of the house at 240V. The installing electrician can easily feed at that point. For large homes with 3-phase service, the 208V input is used. |
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| Question: Are power transients often present, and does it matter? |
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Answer: Yes, power transients are almost certainly present. While catastrophic events are rare (a direct lightning strike at or close to your house), even small transients can damage sensitive electronic equipment and shorten the life of that equipment. In general, experts agree that the life of sensitive equipment can be greatly extended by providing protection from common, everyday power transients. |
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| Question: How do I choose an SPD for my situation? |
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Answer: There are several important factors to understand when choosing an SPD, including total capacity, response time, status indication, transient modes, and ability to withstand repeated events. |
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| Question: That sounds complicated. Which are most important? |
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Answer: The most important factors are total capacity, response time, and status indication. “Total capacity” is the amount of overvoltage current that can be diverted by the SPD. “Response time” is the time the SPD takes to respond to an overvoltage. StrikeShield products have a total capacity of up to 200,000 Amps (depending on model) and a response time of less than a billionth of a second – providing an excellent level of protection. It is also critical to know if the SPD is still providing protection or if it needs to be replaced. StrikeShield products include both audible and visual indicators of protection status, and also have dry contact closures for easy support of remote monitoring. |
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| Question: That’s not so complicated. What about transient modes? |
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Answer: “Transient Modes” means that the transient overvoltages may appear in different ways – for example between the Line and Neutral conductors, Line and Ground, or between Neutral and Ground. StrikeShield SPDs feature “all mode” system protection, so that they protect against all the possible transient modes. |
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| Question: What about “withstanding repeated events”? |
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Answer: Some surge protection products act like fuses – once they act to protect the system, they no longer provide protection and need to be replaced. Better systems, like StrikeShield, are built with a design and components that provide rugged, repeated protection from multiple transient events. |
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| Question: So these SPDs wear out eventually? |
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Answer: SPDs “wear out” by sacrificing part of their own lives to protect the system they guard – especially if they are subjected to large and frequent overvoltage transients. StrikeShield™ SPDs are designed to be very robust while providing a high level of protection and come with a substantial warranty. We expect that in nearly all cases, their useful life will exceed 25 years, but if they wear out in a shorter time, then they have reacted to frequent large overvoltages and done their job by protecting the home from those transients. |
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| Question: I understand better now. Should I look for anything else? |
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Answer: Yes – make sure you choose a UL Listed product that meets the “third Edition Standards” such as the new StrikeShield™ SPDs. That is your assurance that the specifications have been independently tested for the highest level of performance and safety. |