Data & Signal Surge Protectors

Power surges occur when there is a sudden increase of voltage sent through a power system from an internal or external force. Such forces can be caused by lightning strikes, electrical overload, faulty wiring or utility switching. Surge protection devices provide a line of defense against power surges preventing irreparable damage to equipment and costly downtime.

Communication or signal lines that enter or exit a building are at the highest risk of power surge transients being induced onto the interconnecting signal lines. Surge protection devices should be installed at the point-of-entry or at the equipment termination itself. They must be designed to clamp the excess transient voltage to safe levels sustainable by the equipment while at the same time, not interfere with the normal signaling voltages. To accomplish this, the protective circuits usually combine fast-responding, low-capacitive suppressor diodes with gas discharge tubes. Gas discharge tubes dissipate voltage transients through a contained gas. They have high insulation resistance plus low capacitance and leakage, to ensure minimal effect on normal operation of equipment. The line current rating of the surge protection device needs to be sufficient to handle the maximum expected signaling current and the bandwidth must be sufficient to allow correct operation of the system without adverse attenuation. The final choice of surge protection device will then be determined by the type of physical connection, the number of lines to be protected and the surge rating.