If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #190
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 12:00AM
Location:
Posts: 1567
Is making an arrestor simply having one end of a MOV attached to the line and the other to ground? If so, would putting many in parallel increase the surge capacity?
Registered Member #543
Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992
IamSmooth wrote ...
Is making an arrestor simply having one end of a MOV attached to the line and the other to ground? If so, would putting many in parallel increase the surge capacity?
Yes, they are shunt-mode devices, so you can connect MOVs of the same type in parallel to increase the joules rating and/or life expectancy. As you may know, MOVs become significantly degraded by repeated excess over-voltage, so it wouldn't do to use them for clipping a regular waveform, for example, as you might use a zener diode, because they won't last long.
Registered Member #190
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 12:00AM
Location:
Posts: 1567
What about using them in parallel for lightning protection? I found some at Mouser.com with 70KA surge current ratings. How do I determine what clamping voltage or other parameters I need if this is for lightning protection? Thanks
Registered Member #190
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 12:00AM
Location:
Posts: 1567
Everyone that I have spoken with in the Solar industry has said that the MOVs and SOVs may offer some protection, but against a direct hit they don't work. Other than having a lightning rod take the hit and divert the energy, nothing is going to work. Does anyone have any experience with one of these arrestors actually taking the hit and saving the equipment?
Registered Member #152
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
Well a typical lightning strike would be around 10kA so I don't see why a 70kA MOV would not protect you from lightning. Of course the equipment can be damaged by overvoltage but at least it won't be completely toasted...
Registered Member #543
Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992
I would distinguish between surge arrestors in general, and lightning arrestors, which are surely a particular class of surge arrestor addressing a very particular problem.
Lightning arrestors can, and often do, involve combinations of air gaps (such as carbon block), gapped equalizers, gas discharge tubes, MOVs, and one-shot fail-safe devices.
There are many detailed descriptions of lightning arrestors in the US Patent literature online.
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
Surge Arrestor with MOVs
