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Re: [Amps] MOV Sizing

To: "Robert B. Bonner" <rbonner@qro.com>,Paul Christensen <w9ac@arrl.net>, Amps Amps <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] MOV Sizing
From: rgroh@swbell.net
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 12:12:52 -0800 (PST)
List-post: <mailto:amps@contesting.com>
Just had a thought on this subject - there are 'whole' house ac line surge 
protectors - industrial type - that are intended to be connected directly on 
the side of the the house breaker box. One source and example is:
<http://www.surgeassure.com/product.asp?prod=TE/1SSA&gclid=CLf3roe02YoCFShtSQodJy3NvQ
 >

There are other brands and such available at electrical supply houses, etc. 

Another source is Grainger - they have Square D versions
<http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1613542417 
 >

Anyways you could use one of these (they usually are a small black box which 
are easy to bolt on to a box and to wire up) on your equipment. 

Just a thought. 

73
Bob, WA2CKY

----- Original Message ----
From: Robert B. Bonner <rbonner@qro.com>
To: Paul Christensen <w9ac@arrl.net>; Amps Amps <amps@contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 3, 2007 11:35:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Amps] MOV Sizing

Paul, The two to ground would be the correct installation.

140V should be very adequate I would think.  Keep them up off the chassis
because sometimes they blow BLACK and SOOTY.  If you notice in many products
they shrink sleeve over the MOV's leaving the end open to let the fire and
smoke out but keep from trashing up your gear.

As a past electrician, my thinking on line to ground is..  FAULTS should
dissipate to GROUND not to the other line.  Your powerline transformer is
not going to FAULT winding to winding away from 240V.  However what will
blow up the amplifier is a lightning strike causing the whole system to
fault UP AND AWAY from ground.

If you want to spend money on additional MOV's for safety put two in
parallel.  I think you'd almost never see the between lines MOV blow, but if
it did, it could make things worse. 

BOB DD

-----Original Message-----
From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Paul Christensen
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 6:41 AM
To: Amps Amps
Subject: [Amps] MOV Sizing

I  am planning on adding a set of MOVs to the AC line of a recently acquired
Alpha 86 amplifier.  I have reviewed Littlefuse's MOV Applications Guide but
I am still a bit unclear as to the optimum clamping voltage I should choose.


I would like to use three MOVs with one placed across the 240VAC line and
the remaining two placed between each side of line and GND.   I am thinking
of MOVs rated at a nominal operating V of 140VAC, and 260V for the
line-to-line MOV with respective clamping voltages of 180V/360V.   The MOVs
would be placed directly after the fuses.  

Speaking of MOV placement, I have seen circuits were MOVs are placed ahead
of the fuses or circuit breaker, but this seems like a counter-intuitive and
dangerous practice.  OTOH, there are numerous designs that employ AC line RF
bypass caps in front of the fuses as well but then... caps are not meant to
self-destruct during a fault condition.  

Thoughts?

Paul, W9AC
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