Surge Protection | Why Mersen SPDs?

Surge Protection – Why? Power fluctuations cost US companies over $80 billion dollars a year. The good news is AutomationDirect’s high performance low cost surge protectors from Mersen help protect your expensive equipment and minimize down time which saves you money. While we tend to associate power spikes with lightning strikes, the truth is about 80% of power surges come from within your own building from things like motors starting and stopping, electrical panels being switched on and off, etc. The Mersen Surge Protectors offer the lowest cost most reliable way to protect your equipment from disruption, degradation or even total destruction. Why? Because overvoltage is managed by the device Because Mersen surge protectors disconnect themselves before burning up. Mersen Surge Trap products are designed specifically for UL1449 4th edition. And at 200kA they have the highest short circuit current rating available for any surge protection device on the market today. UL designates Surge Protection devices by type: Type 1 Surge protection is used between the transformer and the service disconnect mostly to protect from lightning strikes and utility bank switching. Type 2 is on the load side of the service disconnect to protect against residual lightning, motor driven surges and other internally generated surges. Type 3 is anything that’s more than 30 feet downstream from the service disconnect. You would typically associate these with power strips and home appliances. And there’s a Type 4 and 5 that deals with components and assemblies. Type 1 has the highest amount of protection and is typically the most expensive, Type 2 has less protection and type 3 SPDs have the least protection and are usually the least expensive. The cool thing about the Mersen SPDs is while they are ALL Type 1, they are so inexpensive they can be used in all parts of your factory which simplifies your spare parts inventory and reduces the burden on your maintenance system. And they are small. They can be hung right off a panel or mounted inside using the optional mounting bracket. The NEMA 4/4x plastic housing means they can even be used outdoors. And since AutomationDirect offers the specific voltages and common voltage configurations that cover all the standard residential/commercial/industrial applications, you can maximize protection for your exact needs, rather than having to rely on some generic surge protector. They fit any ¾” knockout, have 36” leads for easy installation, and can be used in line-neutral, line-line, line-ground or neutral-ground applications and even have an LED that lights up to tell you when they are at end of life. This is a surge protector that blew in my office when a power surge hit last week. Again you don’t get this fire, smoke soot and destruction with Mersen surge protectors. The patented TPMOV technology they use automatically disconnects itself before all this damage occurs. This short video shows you how that automatic disconnect works. So think about how much you have invested in your equipment and how all of that can be lost with just a single hit from a surge. And remember that most of your surges will come from INSIDE your facility – like mine did last week. Surge Protection devices are some of the best insurance you will ever buy because they prevent surge related problems from ever happing in the first place. And since these have a 30 day money back guarantee and a 5 year warranty, you know you are in good shape when ordering from AutomationDirect. If you have any questions, please contact AutomationDirect’s free award winning support team during regular business hours. They will be happy to help. And don’t forget the forums – there are lots of experienced automation professionals there that love to share their years of experience. Just don’t post any questions directed at AutomationDirect’s support team there – they don’t monitor the forums on a regular basis.